
Pass (jfUidM 
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, Dieectok 

Water-supply Paper 333 



GROUND WATER 

IN 

BOXELDER AND TOOELE COUNTIES 

UTAH 



BY 



EVERETT CARPENTER 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 
1913 



/ 



DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

GEORGE OTIS SMITH. Director / ^Z' 



Water- StTPPLiY Paper 333 



/rf 



GROUND WATER 



IN 



BOXELDER AND TOOELE COUNTIES 

UTAH 



BY 



EVERETT CARPENTER 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1 1) 1 ."> 



fi 



<> 



D. OF D. 






^ 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

Introduction 7 

Physiography , 7 

General feat\ires 7 

Stream topography 9 

Lake topography 9 

Geology i) 

Formations 9 

Structure 12 

Geologic history 12 

Pre-Pleistocene time ^ 12 

Pleistocene epoch 12 

Recent epoch 14 

Climate 16 

Temperature 10 

Precipitation 17 

Records 17 

Annual variation 18 

Seasonal variation 19 

Relation of rainfall to dry-farming -. 21 

Vegetation 21 

Soil 22 

Streams 22 

Industrial development 23 

Occurrence of ground water 28 

Bedrock 23 

Unconsolidated sediments 25 

S(mrce and disposal of ground water 26 

Artesian conditions 27 

Bedrock 27 

Unconsolidated sediments 27 

Springs 29 

Mountain springs 29 

Valley springs 29 

Hot springs :',0 

Quality of ground water ;iO 

Substances contained in water 80 

Method of analysis 31 

Substances dissolved in waters of northwestern Utah 32 

Relation of dissolved substances to domestic use 32 

Relation of dissolved substances to use in irrigation 34 

Source of alkali 34 

Limits of alkali in so\\ 34 

Limits of alkali in water 36 

3 



CONTENTS. 



Water supply by areas 37 

Malad and lower Bear River valleys 37 

Topography 37 

Geology ^. 38 

Bedrock 38 

Unconsolidated sediments- 38 

Surface water 39 

Streams 39 

Quality of surface water 39 

Irrigation with surface water 41 

Ground water 42 

Springs .■ 42 

Artesian wells 42 

Nonflowing wells ' 42 

Quality 43 

Pumping tests 49 

Irrigation 50 

Blue Spring and Pocatello valleys 50 

Topography and geology 50 

Development 51 

Springs and streams 52 

Ground water 52 

Quality of water 53 

Irrigation with ground water 55 

Hansel Valley 55 

Physiography 55 

Geology 56 

Vegetation 56 

Development ' 56 

Springs 56 

Wells 57 

Quality of water •. 58 

Curlew Valley 58 

Topography 58 

Geology 59 

Precipitation 60 

Development 60 

Vegetation 60 

Streams and springs 60 

Wells , 61 

Quality of water 62 

Irrigation with ground water 64 

Park Valley 64 

Topography and geology 64 

Vegetation 65 

Streams 66 

Springs , 66 

Flowing wells 66 

Nonflowing wells 67 

Quality of water ' 68 

Irrigation 70 

Grouse Creek valley and Pilot Mountain area 71 

Topography and geology 71 

Precipitation and vegetation 72 



CONTENTS. 5 

Water supply by areas — Continued. 

Grouse Creek valley and Pilot Mountain area-- Continued. Page. 

Streams and springs 72 

Wells - 73 

Quality of water 73 

Ground -water prospects 75 

Tooele and Rush valleys 75 

Topography and geology 75 

Streams and springs 77 

Flowing wells 78 

Nonflowing wells 78 

Ground-water prospects 79 

Skull Valley 79 

Topography and geology 79 

Precipitation 80 

Vegetation 8] 

Streams and springs 82 

Ground water 82 

Watering places on routes of travel 83 

Boxelder County 83 

Railway stations and their connections 83 

Wagon roads 84 

Brigham to Kelton via Promontory 84 

Brigham to Kelton via Snowville 84 

Kelton to Lucin 84 

Kelton to Park Valley, Raft River valley, and Snowville 85 

Park Valley to Grouse Creek and Junction Creek 85 

Snowville to east and west arms of Curlew Valley, Raft River 

valley, and Park Valley , 85 

Lucin to Wendover and Ibapah 8G 

Lucin to Grouse Creek 86 

Tooele County 86 

Railway stations and their connections 80 

Wagon roads 86 

Index '. 80 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Page. 

Plate I. Map of Boxelder County, Utah In pocket. 

II. Map of eastern part of Tooele County, Utah 76 

Figure 1. Map of Utah and a portion of Idaho, showing areas investigated 8 

2. Map of Boxelder and Tooele counties, Utah, showing area covered by 

Lake Bonneville 13 

3. Diagram showing fluctuations of water surface of Great Salt Lake. . 15 

4. Diagram showing decrease in precipitation in Boxelder County, 

Utah, from east to west 19 

5. Diagram showing annual precipitation at six stations in Boxelder 

and Tooele counties, Utah 20 

6. Diagram showing average monthly precipitation at six stations in 

Boxelder and Tooele counties, Utah 21 

7. Perspective view and diagrammatic cross section of a typical valley, 

showing relation of alluvial slopes and central fiats to water table. 28 

8. Diagram showing relation of precipitation at Grouse Creek and 

Lucin, Utah 72 

9. Diagram showing relation of precipitation at losepa and Government 

Creek (James ranch), Utah 81 

6 



GROUND AVATRR IN BOXELDER AND TOOELE 
COUNTIES, UTAH. 



By Everett C-arpenter. 



INTRODUCTION. 

The area covered by this report iiKdiules Boxelder County, Utah, 
the eastern part of Tooele C^ounty, Utah, and some small tracts in 
southern Idaho. It comprises about 9,500 square miles, or more than 
the combined area of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. It lies 
between 40° and 42° north latitude and 112° and 114° west longi- 
tude. (See fig. 1.) 

Insufficient rainfall and the rapid settling of the country have 
created a demand for an investigation to determine the feasibility of 
irrigating by the use of underground water. In response to this 
demand and in order to classify the land under the enlarged home- 
stead act, the writer made an investigation covering a period of four 
months dunng the summer and fall of 1911. The greater part of 
this time was spent in Boxelder County, but two weeks at the close 
of the season were devoted to a reconnaissance in Tooele, Rush, and 
Skull valleys, in Tooele County. W. B. Ileroy, of the United States 
Geological Survey, collected most of the data presented for southern 

Idaho. 

PHYSIOGRAPHY. 

GENERAL FEATURES. 

The area under consideration lies almost entirely in the Great 
Basin and includes most of Great Salt Lake. West and southwest 
of the lake and only a few feet above it stretches a vast, flat, barren 
alkali tract known as the Great Salt Lake Desert. North and south 
of the flat and lake are isolated mountain ranges, which trend in a 
general north-south direction and attain elevations of 8,500 to 9,500 
feet above sea level, or 4,300 to 5,300 feet above the level of the lake. 
These ranges are separated from one another by broad, open struc- 
tural valleys which ascend gradually from the lake or desert, into 
which they drain. On the east side of the area the lofty Wasatch 
Mountains rise precipitously to a height of 9,500 feet above sea level 
and separate this area from Cache Valley and the eastern plateau . 

The most pronounced of the larger topographic features are the 
steep mountahi walls that border some of the valleys, the ])ink and 

7 



8 GEOUND WATER IK BOXELDER AKD TOOELE COUNTIES, UTAH. 



gray colors of the outcropping ledges being plainly visible to the naked 
eye for miles. These escarpments have evidently been produced 




Area covered 
in this report 



Area covered in Water- Area covered in Water- 
Supply Paper 277 Supply Paper 217 






Area covered inWater- Area cover edinWaAer- 
Supply Paper 199 Supply Paper 157 

Figure 1.— Map of Utah and a portion of Idaho, showing areas investigated. 

through extensive faulting movements whereby the earth's crust has 
been broken into great blocks that were upheaved, tilted, and folded. 



GEOLOGY. y 

This faulting was probably the most important single factor in the 
development of the present relief of the region and in the production 
of the system of more or less parallel mountain ranges and structural 
valleys. 

STREAM TOPOGRAPHY. 

Superimposed on the features resulting from the diastrophic move- 
ments are tlioso produced by running water. The intermittent and 
permanent mountaui streams have given rise to two sharply con- 
trasted types of topography — one the result of erosion and the other 
of deposition. In their upper courses, where their gradients are 
steep, the streams erode rapidly and create intricately carved sur- 
faces, but in their lower courses, where they are more sluggish and 
their waters arc dissipated by percolation and evaporation, they 
deposit the sediments which they have taken from the mountains 
and build gently sloping alluvial fans. 

LAKE TOPOGRAPHY. 

The forms produced by faulting and folding and by running water 
have been modu1.ed by those which have been created by the waves 
of an ancient lake and which present a bold contrast to the oblique 
lines produced by stream action. iVlong the mountain sides and on 
the alluvial slopes are cliffs, terraces, beaches, bars, and spits that 
could have been produced only by standing water. These shore 
features were formed at every level at which the lake stood long 
enough to produce them, but they are most prominent at two hori- 
zons known as the Bonneville and Provo levels, about 1,100 and 625 
feet, respectively, above Salt Lake. The alkali flat or desert which 
is so prominent in Boxelder and Tooele counties is the floor of the 
ancient lake. 

Since the desiccation of the lake the topographic features^have l)een 
but slightly modified, practically the only changes having been 
wrought by the stream action that has dissected the upper parts of 
the alluvial slopes, and in some places by recent laulthig. 

GEOLOGY. 

FORMATIONS. 

The rocks exposed in this region range in age from pre-C'ambrian 
to Recent. 

In Boxelder County quartzites, mica-bearing schists, and gneiss, 
which are probably of pre-Cambrian age, are exposcnl in Promontory, 
Black Pine, and Raft River mountains. 

In the northern Wasatch Range Paleozoic formations consisting 
chiefly of limestone and quartzite but including also shales and snnd- 



lO GROUND WATER IN BOXELDER AND TOOELE COUNTIES, UTAH. 

stones are well developed, and apparently all the Paleozoic systems 
are represented. In the section of these mountains studied by 
Blackwelder ^ the Cambrian system consists of 2,000 to 6,000 feet of 
limestone, shale, and quartzite separated by an unconformity from 
an older quartzite, presumably of Algonkian age; the Ordovician, of 
about 1,500 feet of quartzite and limestone; the Silurian, of about 
400 feet of limestone; the Devonian, of about 750 feet of limestone; 
and the Carboniferous, of about 4,000 feet of limestone, chert, and 
shale, representing the Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, and Permian 
series. 

Paleozoic rocks, consisting chiefly of limestone and quartzite, 
constitute the greater part of the mountain ranges of Boxelder 
County, but in several places they have been intruded and partly 
concealed by eruptive rocks of later age. These rocks were studied 
prior to 1872 by Hague and Emmons,^ who give a section of Paleozoic 
rocks consisting mainly of quartzites and limestone and having a 
thickness of 20,000 to 36,000 feet. 

In Tooele County the Paleozoic rocks are exposed in the Oquirrh, 
Onaqui, and Cedar mountains and are in general similar to those in 
the Wasatch region. In the Oquirrh Mountains limestones, quartz- 
ites, and sandstone of Cambrian and Carboniferous age are exposed, 
but the other Paleozoic systems are unrepresented.^ The Paleozoic 
strata are cut by many dikes of porphyry and monzonite. The 
Paleozoic rocks m the Tintic mining district,^ somewhat south of the 
area described in this report, are described as follows: 

The Paleozoic section in the Tintic Mountains includes 7,000 feet of Cambrian 
quartzite capped with clay slates and 6,650 feet of limestone with a very few sandy 
beds, of which the upper 5,150 feet are determined from fossil remains to belong to the 
Carboniferous. This sequence in the Paleozoic strata is similar to that which has 
been studied in the Oquirrh Mountains, which form the continuation of this range to 
the north. In the Oquirrh Mountains, however, the upper p®rtion of the series is 
much more fully represented, indicating an erosion of many thousand feet of strata 
in the Tintic Mountains. 

Mesozoic strata have not been found in these counties, but they 
are known to occur in the plateau region to the east and their presence 
in this area also may be revealed when a more detailed study has been 
made. 

1 Blackwelder, Eliot, New light on the geology of the northern Wasatch Range: Bull. Geol. Soc. 
America, vol. 21, 1910, pp. 517-542. See also Boutwell, J. M., Geology and ore deposits of the Park City 
mining district, Utah: Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 77, 1912. Blackwelder, Eliot, Phosphate 
deposits east of Ogden, Utah: Bull. U. S, Geol. Survey No. 430, 1910, pp. 536-551. Richards, R, W., and 
Mansfield, G. R., The Bannock overthrust: Jour. Geology, vol. 20, No. 8, Nov .-Dec., 1912, pp. 681-709. 

2 Hague, Arnold, and Emmons, S. F., Rept. U. S. Geol. Expl. 40th Par., vol. 2, 1877, p. 340. 

3 Emmons, S. F., Keith, Arthur, and Boutwell^ J. M., Economic geology of the Bingham mining district, 
Utah: Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 38, 1905, p. 33. 

4 Tower, G. W., Smith, G. O., and Emmons, S.F., Tintic special folio (No. 65), Geol. Atlas U. S., U. S. 
Geol. Survey, 190C. 



GEOLOGY. 



11 



Thick beds of soft, white, marly limestone, containing abundant 
fossils of Tertiary age, were found in the Wasatch Range east of 
Plymouth settlement. They occur high up on the side of the pass 
and have given rise to great bowlders that have rolled down the 
mountain side. Heavy beds of conglomerate, limestone, and clays, 
probably of Tertiary age, are exposed in Park Valley. Sediments 
consisting chiefly of clay, sandstone, and volcanic ash, and referred 
to the Pliocene by the King Survey, are exposed in Grouse Creek 
valley. 

Stream, lake, and wind deposits, consisting chiefly of unconsoli- 
dated sands, clays, and gravels, lie beneath the alluvial slopes and 
desert flats, where they extend to an unknown depth. Coarse stream 
deposits are found along the mountain borders, and fine sediments, 
chiefly lake deposits, lie in the central parts of the valleys. Wind 
deposits, consisting of loose sandy material, are found in Curlew 
Valley near Holbrook, Idaho, and in a few other localities, but they 
are not prominent in this region. These unconsolidated sediments, 
which are collectively known as valley fill, are probably Tertiary, 
Pleistocene, and Recent in age. They no doubt rest unconformably 
on the older strata which outcrop in the mountain areas. The follow- 
ing incomplete log of a well near Farmington furnishes a typical 
section of the valley fill: ^ 

Log of the Guffey t(r Galey well, 1 mile southwest of Farmington, Davis County, Utah. 



Clay and sand, occasional wood 

Sand and gravel 

( Jreenish micaceous sand and gravel 

Fine gray claj' with fresh-water shells 

Fresh-water shells 

Fine sand 

Coarse gravel, one-half to 1 inch In diameter, from igneous rocks 

Coarse sand, partly from schists 

Coarse gravel and fine sand : 

Angular fine gravel 

(rreenish cemented gravel and micaceous sand 

CJreen sand, coarse watorworn gravel, with blackened wood 

(Jreen sand and rounded gravel 

Sand and giavel 

Rounded giavel, quartz sand, occasionally cemented by pyrite. wood fragments. 

Angular gravel, quartz sand, with pyrite and many bits of wood 

Brown earthy micaceous sand, possibly some gypsum 

Angular quartz sand 

Fine sanely olive-colored clay 

(ireenish gravel and sand 

(iravel. quartz, and micaceous sand 

lirown earthy clay and sand 

()li\T-colored clay, sand, and gravel 

(Ireen clay, fine waterworn gravel 

Greenish clay 

Tine quartz sand, with pyrite and mica 

Brown earthy micaceous sand 

Pinkish clay and sand 

Fine sand. ." 

" Bowlders " 



Thick- 



Fcet. 
170 

30 
100 

70 



Depth. 



60 
30 
30 
40 
25 
90 
300 
50 
50 
100 
110 
15 
35 
10 
20 
13 
10 
20 
40 
10 
5 
10 
10 
20 



Feet. 

170 

200 

400 

490 

500 

570 

660 

730 

770 

795 

900 

1.200 

1.250 

1,300 

1.400 

1,510 

1,525 

1,560 

1,570 

1.590 

1.610 

1.620 

1.760 

1,830 

1.840 

1,845 

1,855 

1,875 

1,895 

2.000± 



J BoutwcU, J. M., Bull. U. S. Geo!. Survey No. 260, 1904, pp. 471-472. 



12 GKOUND WATER IN BOXELDEE AND TOOELE COUNTIES^ UTAH. 

Lava flows, usually associated mth Paleozoic rocks but in some 
localities in contact with Pleistocene deposits, are found in Hansel, 
Curlew, and Park valleys. They appear to belong to the Tertiary 
period. 

STRUCTURE. 

Tne larger structural features exhibited in northwestern Utah have 
been produced mainly by block faulting, a fault scarp being present 
on one or both sides of most of the mountain ranges. This kind of 
faulting, which is present in most of the Great Basin, has produced 
the type of structure known as ^^ basin ranges." The block faulting 
has been accompanied in many places by folding and thrust faulting, 
which has rendered the geology very complex. 

GEOLOGIC HISTORY. 
PRE-PLEISTOCENE TIME., 

Rocks contaming marine fossils of Paleozoic age are found in many 
places over the area described ui this paper, and it is therefore certain 
that this part of the State was covered by the ocean during at least 
a part of Paleozoic time. Mesozoic rocks are not known in this area, 
but are found in the plateau to the east, and it is therefore probable 
that this part of the basin emerged from the sea before the beginning 
of the Mesozoic era. Tertiary beds are found in parts of the area, 
especially in Malad, Curlew, Park, and Grouse Creek vaUeys, and 
their occurrence shows that the region was at least partly subject to 
lake or river deposition in the Tertiary period. 

The diastrophic movements which were instrumental in creating 
the relief of northwestern Utah probably extended over long periods. 
They may have had their beginning in the Paleozoic era and perhaps 
occurred also in the Mesozoic, but the youthful topography and 
lacustrine history of the region indicate that the present relief was 
chiefly produced more recently, probably in late Tertiary time. 

PLEISTOCENE EPOCH. 

During the Pleistocene epoch western Utah held a great inland sea 
or lake which has been studied and described by G. K. Gilbert,^ 
who named it Lake Bonneville, after the man who made the first 
exploration of the region. (See fig. 2.) 

When at its highest stage, this ancient lake stood about 1,000 feet 
above the present level of Great Salt Lake, or approximately 5,200 
feet above the present sea level and had a length of 346 miles and a 
breadth of 145 miles. Its shore line, exclusive of the islands, was 

1 Lake Bonneville; Mon. U. S. Geol. Survey, vol. 1, 1890. 



GEOLOGY. 



13 



2,550 miles long and inclosed a water surface of 19,750 square miles, 
or about 9 times the area of Great Salt Lake. 




Base from General Land Office 
•nap of Utah 



Area covered by 
Lake BoDneviJle 



Area covered by 
Great Salt Lake 



Figure 2.— Map of Boxeldor and Tooele counties, Utah, showing area covered by Lake Fionneville. (After 
G. K. Gilbert, Mon. U, S. Geol. Sim^ey, vol. 1, 1890.) 

If Lake Bonneville existed at present, the post ofhccs at Grouse 
Creek and Park Valley would be near its shore, Kelton, Coiinne, 



14 GKOUND WATER IN BOXELDER AND TOOELE COUNTIES, UTAH. 

Promontory Point, and Grantsville would stand in nearly 1,000 feet 
of water, and Old Promontory Station, Tooele, Stockton, and St. 
John would be covered by about 300 feet of water. The map given 
in figure 2 shows that at the time the lake stood at its highest level 
the largest body of mainland in Boxelder County was formed by the 
Raft River, Grouse Creek, and Goose Creek mountains, and the 
largest in Tooele County by the Deep Creek Mountains. It also 
shows that the Upper Promontory, Blue Spring, Oquirrh, and Onaqui 
mountains were peninsulas and that the Cedar, Lakeside, Pilot, Silver 
Island, Newfoundland, and Terrace mountains and the southern part 
of the Promontory Range were large islands. 

In the humid Pleistocene epoch the waters of the ancient lake rose 
and fell in a manner not unlike those of the present lake, but through 
a much wider range. When the lake reached its highest level, which 
is marked by the Bonneville shore line, it found an outlet at the north 
end of Cache Valley. The waters discharging through this outlet 
rapidly cut a channel through the uncemented alluvium, which is 
here about 375 feet thick and rests on indurated limestone. By this 
process the lake level was lowered about 375 feet in a comparatively 
short time. When the limestone was reached, however, the erosion 
of the outlet proceeded at an exceedingly slow rate, and consequently 
the lake remained at practically the same level during all the rest of 
the time that it overflowed, and at this level its waves formed the 
features of the Provo shore line. 

When the climate once more became so arid that the quantity of 
water evaporated from the lake exceeded the quantity poured into it, 
the lake level fell and the outlet became dry. During the remainder 
of the life of Lake Bonneville the water level oscillated and shore lines 
still plainly visible were carved at lower levels. 

The Bonneville and Provo shore lines, which were originally hori- 
zontal, are so no longer, a fact which shows that gentle deformation 
has occurred since they were produced. Recently formed fault 
scarps near Honeyville lead to the conclusion that faulting is also 
still in progress in western Utah. 

RECENT EPOCH. 

The present lake is but a remnant of Lake Bonneville, which, owing 
to the aridity of the climate that followed the Pleistocene epoch, 
was gradually reduced in size and depth until an equilibrium was 
reached between evaporation and precipitation, resulting in Great 
Salt Lake. As both precipitation and evaporation are variable, how- 
ever, the level at which the water stands is not stationary, but has 
fluctuated through a range of about 16 feet in the last 60 years. 
During most of the period since 1850 a record of the elevation of the 



GEOLOGY. 



15 



GAGE HEIGHT IN FEET 



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287°— wsp 333—13- 



16 GEOUND WATEK IN BOXELDEK AND TOOELE COUNTIES, UTAH. 

water surface has been kept in some form. E.G. LaKue ^ has com- 
piled these data and plotted them in the diagram shown in figure 3 
.(p. 15), which gives a comprehensive idea of the fluctuations. 
In describing the fluctuations, LaRue says : 

During the years 1902 to 1905, feeling was general among the leading engineers of 
the West that Great Salt Lake was gradually drying up and that in a few years the lake 
would be replaced by a great salt desert. It is now very evident that this appre- 
hension was unfounded. The accompanying diagram shows the actual lake levels 
for a period of 61 years, beginning with the year 1850. The lake level appears to 
rise and fall with a series of wet and dry years. The mean precipitation from 1886 
to 1905 was 13.76 inches. The maximum precipitation during this period, 18.09 
inches, occurred in 1891; the minimum, 9.37 inches, in 1887. The mean precipita- 
tion for the period 1906 to 1909, inclusive, was 20.97 inches, the maximum, 23.35 
inches, occurring in 1909, and the minimum, 19.36 inches, in 1907. It is very evident 
that the gradual rise in the lake level from 1906 to 1910 was due to the high mean 
precipitation of 20.97 inches during this period. With the data available at present 
it would be impossible to determine to just what extent the diversion of the streams 
for irrigation has affected the lake levels. * * * The diagram shows that the lake 
level for April, 1910, was approximately 6 feet above the zero of the gage, and that 
for a period of 26 years beginning in 1865 the lake stood above 6 feet on the gage, 
reaching a maximum height of 14.5 feet in 1868. * ^ ^ 

The Lucin cut-off was completed in 1904. The mean lake level was then approxi- 
mately —0.5 foot. The bottom of the stringers of the main trestle over Great Salt Lake 
is 13 .95 feet above the zero of the lake gage . The bottom of the stringers when the cut- 
off was constructed was therefore approximately 14 J feet above the lake level. 

Although the Lucin cut-off has been damaged considerably by the rising of the 
lake, it will in all probability never be abandoned, for should the lake rise another 
foot or so, it will spread out over an immense flat and afford an enormously increased 
surface for evaporation, thereby checking the rise of the lake. 

Owing to the extensive use of the water for irrigation within the Great Salt Lake 
drainage area, it is reasonable to believe that the lake will never rise above the 8-foot 
mark again, as it has been well below this stage since the year 1888. 

CLIMATE. 

TEMPERATURE. 



The temperature of this region is not excessively high in summer 
nor excessively low in winter, but it varies daily through a wide range. 
The following table gives the summarized data in regard to the 
temperature and frosts : 

Temperatures {°F.)in northwestern Utah. 



Place. 


Length 
record. 


January. 


February. 


March. 


Max. 


Min. 


Mean. 


Max. 


Min. 


Mean. 


Max. 


Min. 


Mean. 


Corinne 


Years. 

40 

32 

9 


60 
50 
54 


-16 
-14 
-14 


26 
23 
28 


67 
58 
63 


-14 
-27 
-23 


30 
28 
31 


76 

72 
75 


-5 
1 

1 


39 


Kelton 


39 


Government Creek . 


37 







1 LaRue, E. C, Eng. News, vol. 64, July, 1910, p. 261. 



climate: 

Temperatures {°F.) in northwestern CTito^— Continued. 



17 



Place. 


April. 


May. 


June. 


Max. 


Min. 


Mean. 


Max. 


Min. 


Mean. 


Max. 


Min. 


Mean. 




89 
80 
80 


16 
14 
9 


50 
49 
46 


97 
92 

86 


23 
13 
21 


59 
58 
52 


105 
106 
99 


29 
36 

28 


68 


Kelton 


69 




62 






Place. 


July. 


August. 


September. 


Max. 


Min. 


Mean. 


Max. 


Min. 


Mean. 


Max. 


Min. 


Mean. 




109 
114 
101 


38 
37 
34 


77 
74 
73 


110 
107 
102 


31 
34 
39 


70 
74 
71 


101 
94 
94 


23 
20 
23 


61 


Kelton 


61 


Government Creek 


61 







Place. 



Corinno 

Kelton 

Government Creek. 



October. 



Max. Min. Mean 



November. 



Max. Min. Mean 



December. 



Max. Min. Mean 



Annual. 



Max. Min. Mean 



110 
114 
105 



-16 

-27 
-22 



50.5 
49.2 
48.8 



Frost in northwestern Utah . 



Place. 


Length 

record 

(years). 


Average date 

of first killing 

frost in 

autumn. 


Average 
date of 

last 
killing 
frost in 
spring. 


Earliest date 

of killing frost 

in autumn. 


Latest 
dateof 
killing 
frost in 
spring. 


Corinne . 


19 
32 
9 


Oct 4 


May 16.. 
Mays... 
May 24.. 


Sept. 16 

Sept.9 

Sept. 12 


June 7 


Kelton 


do 

Sept. 30 


May 17. 
June 23 


Government Creek 







PRECIPITATION. 
RECORDS. 

Rainfall observations have been made for a number of years at 
Corinne, Promontory, Kelton, Snowville, Tooele, and Government 
Creek, and more recently at Lucin, Grouse Creek, Midlake, and losepa. 
The following table summarizes the raiafall data of these stations. 

Precipitation {in inches) in northwestern Utah. 





Boxelder County. 


Tooele County. 


Year. 


Promon- 
tory. 


Kelton. 


Corinne. 


Lucin. 


Grouse 
Creek. 


Snow- 
ville. 


Tooele. 


Govern- i 
ment loscpa. 
Creek, i 


1870 












1 


1 


1871 


8.82 
3.87 




14.38 
10.92 
16.20 
12.01 






1 






1872 














1873 7.91 














1874 

















18 GROUND WATER IN .BOXELDER AND TOOELE COUNTIES, UTAH. 

Precipitation {in inches) in northwestern Utah — Continued. 





Boxelder County. 


Tooele County, 


Year. 


Promon- 
tory. 


Kelton. 


Corinne. 


Lucin. 


Grouse 
Creek. 


Snow- 
ville. 


Tooele. 


Govern- 
ment 
Creek. 


lose pa. 


1875 




















1876 






9.66 
5.41 
8.84 
7.50 
8.02 
12.94 
8.74 
10.01 
18.95 
16.54 
11.78 
7.31 
11.90 
14.56 
11.35 
17.79 
14.62 
12.61 
9.76 
7.45 
10.00 
11.19 
8.50 
10.87 
11.53 
15.16 
13.10 
14.27 
12.76 
11.70 
22.35 
16.78 
18.98 
21.70 
10.00 
12.59 














1877 


6.98 
12.08 
7.54 
3.30 
5.24 
8.18 
6.74 
14.67 
8.88 
5.70 
















1878 
















1879 


4.07 
2.21 
4.69 
3.12 
3.75 
13.44 















1880 














1881 














1882. .. 














1883 














1884 














1885 














1886 


7.13 
5.12 
6.95 
7.23 
6.73 
14.48 
6.39 
4.22 
8.88 
1.46 
6.34 














1887.. .- 














1888 
















1889 


4.33 
4.70 
14.27 
11.40 
11.70 
11.87 
5.95 
7.37 
9.58 
5.47 
6.31 
6.34 
6.03 
5.28 














1890 














1891 






15.11 








1892 












1893 






10.96 
11.81 
8.42 
14.28 
10.05 
7.80 
10.56 
7.92 
9.44 
9.51 
9.65 
14.50 
12.01 
17.04 
14.03 
12.02 








1894 












1895 












1896 












1897 






14.49 
18.25 
14.87 
12.31 
14.19 
10.12 
12.03 
18.13 
14.94 
20.31 
17.65 
23.50 
22.97 
11.14 
12.26 






1898 


4.65 
3.70 
4.85 
3.35 
3.08 
5.48 

10.95 
8.23 
9.44 

10.56 
6.76 

11.20 
4.49 
5.75 










1899 










1900 










1901 






15.01 
10.18 
9.41 
15.37 
13.61 
18.09 
16.28 
17.04 
17.91 
7.53 
8.42 




1902 








1903 








1904 


3.25 









1905 








]906 










1907 










]908 


8.28 

22.28 

5.92 

8.94 








1909 


3.82 
2.80 
5.65 






1910 








1911.. 


10.99 




9.85 










8.25 


6.37 


12.50 


4.09 




9.80 


15. 74 


11.53 











The average annual precipitation is 12.50 inches at Corinne, 8.25 
Inches at Promontory, 6.37 inches at Kelton, 11.47 inches at Snow- 
ville, and 4.09 inches at Lucin. These averages indicate a gradual 
westward decrease in precipitation (fig. 4) . They are perhaps conclu- 
sive for the plains on which the stations are maintained, but they are 
not representative of the mountain areas. The luxuriant growth of 
timber on the Grouse Creek, Raft River, Black Pine, and Pilot Moun- 
tains indicate that considerable moisture is precipitated in the western 
parts of these counties, although at great altitudes. 

ANNUAL VARIATION. 

The rainfall at any given station varies from year to year within 
wide limits. The recorded range in annual precipitation is between 
22.35 and 5.41 inches at Corinne, between 22.28 and 3.25 inches at 
Promontory, 14.48 and 2.21 inches at Kelton, 17.04 and 7.80 inches 
at Snowville, 23.50 and 10.12 inches at Tooele, and 18.09 and 7.53 
inches at Government Creek. These variations are regional rather 
than local, there being in general an agreement between the curves 
of the different stations. Thus in 1884 and 1891 and in each year 



CLIMATE. 



19 



from 1904 to 1908, inclusive, the precipitation was above t]ie average 
at all stations where records were kept, and hi 1879, 1880, 1882, 1883, 
1887, 1895, and 1910 it was below the average at all stations. These 
annual variations are shown graphically in figure 5 (p. 20), which 
represents the rainfall by years since the installation of weather 
stations at the several points. 

Heavy rains may, however, fall in one locality when it is dry at 
others. In 1908 the rainfall at Tooele was above the average, 
although at the other stations it was below the averao^e. 



4. 



/ 



/ 



/ 



/ 



/ 



/ 



^ 



I Miles 



•30] 



22 Miles 



-2 



Figure 4.- Diagram showing decrease in precipitation in Boxelcler County, L'Lah, from east to west. 
SEASONAL VARIATION. 

The average monthly rainfall is greatest in March, April, and May, 
and least in June, July, and August. The spring rahis are in general 
heavier than those occurring in the fall. (See fig. 6, p. 21.) 

Average monthly rainfall at nine stations in Boxelder and Tooele counties, Utah. 



station. 



Corirme 

l^romontory 

Snowville 

Keiton 

Lucin 

Grouse Creek 

Tooele 

Government Creek 
(James ranch) 



Length 

of 
record. 



Years 
42 
42 
20 
34 

:\ 

1 



Years 
covered. 



1S70-1911 
1870-19 11 
1S9O-1909 
1S78-1911 
1909-1911 

1911 
1896-1911 

1900-1911 
1911 



1.67 
.96 
1.31 



1.99 
1.29 



1.17 
1.23 



1.44 
1.21 



1.38 
.76 

1.61 
.50 
.04 
.33 

2.05 

2.14 
1.40 



1.08 
.71 

1.14 
.66 
.03 
.62 

1.59 

1.27 
.61 



45 0.58 
94 .20 
52 . 65 
831 .39 
261 . 46 
""' 2. 17 
.70 



2.31 



0.44 
.38 
.3 
.36 
.05 
.57 
.65 

.57 
.57 



0.59 
.69 
.38 
.22 
.07 
.00 
.90 

1.19 
.00 



0.68 
.59 
.50 
.45 
.23 
1.40 
1.04 

.87 
1.06 



1.02 
.65 

1.02 
.45 
.32 
.36 

1.25 

.47 



1.55 
.94 

1.14 
.74 
.65 



.681 l.tW 
1.45! 1.02 



1.17 .94 
.65 1.31 



20 GKOUND WATEK IN" BOXELDEE AND TOOELE COUNTIES^ tTTAH. 



e 




. . 


ANNUAL PRECIPITATION IN INCHES 


, ^ 


E 


' ?S 53 g 


1871 












































































-^ 


































•--. 


--.. 














^ 


-^_ 
















































^- 


^ 


.-^ 


















1875 








































































































































































r-Ho 


^lot 


'X.. 










































X 


y. 




V" 


































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A 








































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One 


































<r 


# 
















































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....- 


— - 


-— 


--" 








^ 


^ 


























.-- 


-'-' 


'" 










_^ 


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1887 
1888 












^ 


^ 














































--V 


'\, 




^~^ 














































\ 












^^ 
































\ 




/ 














^ 









































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-..-. 


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^ 


^ 
























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•-•' 


^ 


^ 
































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--. - 








XT' 





































—— 


— 


—•• ■ 


— •— 




^_ 


z^-^ 


































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-- 


^._ 




^N 


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■-->- 





^c 


HVW 


f-'/e. 








































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^.— 


•''■ 


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-- 


'.•^'^ 














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^^ 


f^^ 










- 














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feJ 













^- 


^--- 














1900 










\ 




i 




■^■^ 


••-•■ 




\ 




^' 


^ 




























/' 








'^s 








-^ 


"-^ 


_________ 




























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i 




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y 


Goy, 


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cnTrj 


inF 


:5| 


t 


—-. 


____ 
































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fe.. 










iiSt:; 




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^■• 


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V 


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s?= 


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19U 














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V. 




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S^_ 

























VEGETATION. 



21 



RELATION OF llAINFALl. TO DRY FARMING. 

In former years the farmers relied almost wholly on irrigation, but 
of late they have made extensive attempts to raise crops by dry- 
farm methods. More especially is this true in Curlew, Pocatello, Blue 
Spring, and Rush valleys, where dry farming has been undertaken on 
a large scale. These attempts have been fairly successful, but their 
success is proportional to the rainfall, which is in general greatest in 
the eastern part of the region and decreases westward. The records 
of the western stations are too short to warrant any definite state- 
ment as to the amount of rainfall in the western part or to suggest 
how far west dry farming can be made successful. The wet period, 
extending from 1904 to 1909, has been favorable to dry-farming oper- 
ations, but considerable grain was also raised without irrigation in 
1911, which appears to have been a year of nearly normal precipita- 
tion. 



3 (I) t> 

< </) O 



O <U 

2 o 




FiGUEE 6.— Diagram showing average monthly precipitation at six stations in Boxelder and Tooele 

counties, Utah. 



VEGETATION. 

The vegetation of this region is not unlike that found in other parts 
of the Great Basin. In the relatively humid mountain areas junipers, 
pine, cedars, quaking aspen, and trees of other kinds are found, some 
of the mountains having timber of sufficient size to warrant their 
withdrawal for forest reserves. The valleys support a much less lux- 
uriant growth and their dominant plants are of the drought-resistant 
or alkali-resistant types. The following species, determined by W. F. 
Wright, of the United States Department of Agriculture, are typical 
of this region: Spirostachys occidentalis (salt brush), Sarcobatus ver- 
miculatus (greasewood), Atriplex confertifolia (shadscale), Gutierrezia 
sarotJirse (match brush); Chrysothamnus nauseosus (rabbit brush), 
Artemisia tridentata (sagebrush). 



22 GKOUND WATER IN BOXELDER AND TOOELE COUNTIES^ UTAH. 

The native plants of the valleys and plains grow in three distinct 

belts, determined with respect to the alkali and moisture content of 

the soil. The higher alluvial slopes, which receive the most rainfall 

and the greatest part of the run-off from the mountains and which 

contain the least alkali, support a heavy growth of sagebrush; the 

lower slopes, where the soil is drier and the alkaH content is probably 

greater, yield a sparse growth of shadscale and match brush; and the 

low fiats, which contain the greatest amount of alkali, either produce 

salt-resistant plants, such as greasewood and salt brush, or are entirely 

barren. Local conditions affect the general arrangement of these 

belts, so that heavy sagebrush may occur in places surrounded by 

shadscale, or vice versa. 

SOIL. 

Only a relatively small part of the land in Boxelder and Tooele 
counties is arable, the mountains, swamps, and alkali tracts being in 
general worthless for agriculture. Nevertheless there is in the aggre- 
gate a large acreage of good agricultural land — much larger than can 
be irrigated with the supply of water that is available or that would 
be available if all the water resources were fully developed and con- 
served. The best agricultural lands he between the gravelly soils of 
the upper alluvial slopes and the clayey alkali soils of the flats. 

The lowest tracts of the valleys almost everywhere contain alkali 
in harmful quantities. The surface waters flowing over the higher 
areas dissolve the soluble salts and carry them to the lower levels, 
where they are concentrated by evaporation; also the underground 
waters are near the surface in the low tracts and in some places are 
drawn up by capillary action and evaporated , leaving behind the salts 
that they contained. Through these processes the soluble substances 
of the upland regions have accumulated in the lower parts of the val- 
leys until they are present in injurious amounts. 

STREAMS. 

Bear and Malad rivers are the largest streams that enter this region. 
The former rises in the lofty plateau east of this region and flows 
northward through Utah and southwestern Wyoming into southeast- 
ern Idaho, where it turns and flows back into Utah and empties into 
Great Salt Lake. Much of its water is used for irrigation before this 
region is reached, but a large amount is also diverted soon after the 
stream enters Boxelder County. Malad River rises in southern Idaho 
and flows into Utah, where it empties into Bear River. It is not an 
important source of irrigation waters in its lower course on account 
of salt springs which empty into it, but the tributaries near its head 
furnish water for considerable acreage of land. 

Many smaU streams rise in the mountains and flow into the valleys, 
where they normally sink into the ground, but during the irrigation 



OCCURRENCE OF GROUND WATER. 23 

season practically all the water from such streams is used long before 
it reaches the sinks. Among the streams of this class are Boxelder, 
Blue Spring, Deep, Indian, Dove, and Grouse creeks in Boxelder 
County, and Clover, Ophir, Vernon, North Willow, South Willow, 
Emigrant, Pine, and Soldier creeks in Tooele County. 

INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 

The region now comprising the State of Utah was unknown before 
1833 except from the indefinite reports of the traders and trappers 
who occasionally made expeditions into it. In that year Capt. 
Bonneville conducted an excursion to Great Salt Lake in the interest 
of fur traders and took notes that were later published by Wash- 
ington Irving. In 1842 Capt. Fremont explored the Utah region, 
he and his party being the first white men to sail a boat on Great Salt 
Lake. In 1847 the Mormons settled at the present site of Salt Lake 
City, and two years later Capt. Stansbury made a comprehensive study 
of the lake and its envu'ons. The rush to California opened a road 
through the country, but not until the completion of the L^nion 
Pacific and Central Pacific railroads in 1869 was communication 
with the outside world made easily. 

With the settlement of this arid State came the adoption of irri- 
gation. The water of the mountain streams and springs was led 
upon the parched but rich soil and the desert became dotted mth 
productive, oases, each supporting an agricultural community pro- 
portionate in size to the stream or spring by which it was sustained. 
In many of these communities development practically ceased when 
all the normal stream flow had been appropriated, but in recent 
years the limits of the desert are persistently being crowded back 
and more and more of the waste land is being reclaimed. This agri- 
cultural expansion is being accomplished by the construction of 
reservoirs to conserve the flood waters that formerly ran to waste, by 
the improvement of irrigation methods whereby the duty of the water 
is increased, by the application of dry-farming methods to large 
tracts that lie near the mountains and are favored with more rainfall 
than most of the desert, and to a small extent by the development 
of underground waters by means of artesian wells or pumping plants. 

OCCURRENCE OF GROUND WATER. 
BEDROCK. 

The Paleozoic strata, which consist of quartzite, indurated lime- 
stone, schist, and slate, are exposed in all the mountain ranges and 
generally dip at steep angles. The quartzites and limestones are 
relatively impervious but contain cracks, fissures, and bedding planes 
that permit the passage of water; the schists and slates are so higlily 



24 GROUND WATER IN BOXELDEK AND TOOELE COUNTIES^ UTAH. 

impervious that they are of little or no value as water bearers. In 
most places the Paleozoic rocks are in positions which are very unfav- 
orable for the recovery of such water as they may contain. As a 
rule the water that sinks into these rocks issues as mountain springs 
or is carried to such depths that its recovery is impracticable. Only 
a few successful wells have been sunk into Paleozoic rocks and but 
few attempts have been made to obtain water by drilling in these 
formations. The presence of water in them, however, is shown by 
the conditions at the Mercur mining camp/ where water was found 
on the top of a shale bed at the base of a thick limestone, and also 
by the well of the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Kailroad at 
Toplif, which was drilled about 450 feet in sedimentary rocks lying 
beneath the unconsolidated sediments and which obtained a bountiful 
supply of water. The following log was furnished by the railroad 
company: 

Log of railroad well at Toplif, Utah. 



Thick- 
ness. 



Depth. 



Yellow clay 

Yellow clay and gravel 

Yellow clay and bowlders 

Clay, gravel, and sand 

Limestone fragments and clay , 

Limestone, broken 

Limestone quartzite, solid 

Limestone quartzite and yellow clay 

Lime quartzite, honeycombed 

Lime quartzite, solid '. . 

Lime quartzite, crevices 

Lime quartzite, solid 

Lime quartzite and porphyry 

Lime quartzite 

Lime quartzite and porphyry, water-bearing 

Lime quartz; stratifled, crevices filled with water. 



Feet. 



10 
106 
78 
11 
10 
10 
40 
38 
49 
32 
3 
43 
30 
19 
13 



Feet. 
10 
20 
126 
204 
215 
225 
235 
275 
313 
362 
390 



566 

585 
598 
654 



Indurated rocks of probable Tertiary age, consisting of lime- 
stone, clay, sand, conglomerate, and lava, occur in Curlew, Park, 
and Grouse valleys and on the flank of the Wasatch Mountains. 
These beds are less steeply inclined and, with the exception of the 
lava, are softer than the Paleozoic strata. In Curlew VaUey lava is 
the only Tertiary rock that has so far been found. It outcrops at 
several localities, is most abundant on the hills, and has been encoun- 
tered in wells below the valley fill. The Baker weU, in sec. 9, T. 2 N., 
R. 9 W., passed through 52 feet of hard lava, below which it obtained 
water. In Park Valley the Tertiary rocks, composed of clay, lime- 
stone, and conglomerate, are in most places covered by Quaternary 
wash, but they are exposed in a few localities and are encountered 
in well drilling. The Hirsche well, in sec. 2, T. 12 N., R. 14 W., passed 
through 200 feet of limestone, below which it obtained a small flow. 

1 Spurr, J. E., Sixteenth Ann. Kept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 2, 1895, p. 423. 



OCCURRENCE OF GROUND WATER. 25 

This dense limestone is not water-bearing, but appears to be under- 
lain by porous sediments that contain water which may prove to be 
under sufficient pressure to rise to the surface. In Grouse Valley 
the Tertiary deposits are chiefly clays, fine sands, and conglomerates. 
They outcrop on the west slope of the Grouse Creek Mountains and 
dip gently toward the valley. No attempt has been made to exploit 
these deposits for water, but as a large amount of rain falls on the 
high Goose Creek Range it is possible that they are saturated and 
would furnish supplies to deep wells sunk in the valley. 

For the region as a whole the indurated rocks are not important as 
water-bearing formations. Their chief value lies in their confining 
function in the basins which they form and which are partly filled 
with unconsolidated water-bearing sediments. They prevent the 
downward escape of the water that sinks into the valleys, and cause 
this water to accumulate in the unconsolidated beds. In this way 
the rock basins act as huge reservoirs, whose supplies of water can 
be drawn upon in the lowland areas, and are therefore of great 
economic value. 

UNCONSOLIDATED SEDIMENTS. 

The Quaternary streams and lake deposits that occupy the vaUeys 
and lie beneath the deserts of this region are classed under the gen- 
eral heading /^unconsolidated sediments," in contrast with '^bed- 
rock," which is used in describing the older indurated sedimentary 
beds and the igneous rocks. Even the Quaternary deposits are, how- 
ever, somewhat cemented, as is shown by the fact that the waUs of 
most of the dug weUs stand without casing, but they are much less 
firmly cemented than the older rocks. 

The unconsolidated sediments have been derived from the sur- 
rounding mountains. Since the mountains came into existence the 
agents of weathering, such as water, wind, and frost, have been 
actively engaged in breaking up the older rocks and transporting 
them to the vaUeys, the work of transportation having been accom- 
plished chiefly by the streams and torrential floods. Thus the deep 
canyons and serrated peaks were carved and the alluvial slopes and 
desert plams were built up. 

A torrential stream confined to a narrow mountain canyon may 
flow so swiftly that it will transport not only sand and clay, but also 
pebbles and even large bowlders. Upon issuing from the mouth of 
the canyon the stream spreads over a wider area, its gradient is less, 
and its volume is diminished by seepage. Consequently its velocity 
and transporting power are greatly reduced and it deposits the coarser 
part of its load. It is because of this fact that very coarse material 
is found beneath the higher portions of tlie alluvial slopes and that 
finer sediments, sucli as clay and silt, predominate near tlie base of 
the slopes and on the desert flats. 



26 GKOUND WATER IN BOXELDER AND TOOELE COUNTIES, IJTAH. 

The sorting of transported material by mountain streams is very 
imperfect. Succeeding floods differ greatly in magnitude. If a 
small freshet follows a heavy flood it will deposit fine materials where 
the heavy flood had dropped only coarse gravel, and will form a kind 
of matrix around the pebbles and bowlders of this gravel. As a 
result of the variation in the size of the floods the aUuvial slopes 
are very irregular in composition. 

A stream, moreover, does not build up aU parts of its slope simul- 
taneously. It takes its course over one part of the slope until, by aggra- 
dation, its channel is elevated above the other parts. Then the 
stream, always seeking the lowest levels, breaks away from the 
elevated tract and builds up another part of the slope. Consequently 
stream deposits have little continuity and wells sunk into them in 
close proximity may exhibit totally different sections. 

When, however, a mountain torrent discharges into a body of quiet 
water, such as formerly existed in this region, the coarse material is 
dropped at the shore and only the finest material is carried out for 
any distance. This condition is found over most of Boxelder and 
Tooele counties. The map showing the area covered by Lake Bonne- 
ville (fig. 2, p. 13) indicates that aU the valleys of this region were 
wholly or partly occupied by this ancient lake. The central flats are 
therefore composed largely of lake deposits of fine sand and clay that 
hold but little water and yield that little slowly. Especially is this 
true in broad valleys, such as lower Curlew VaUey, and in the Great 
Salt Lake desert. 

Coarse stream deposits are capable of absorbing and yielding large 
quantities of water. The rain that falls on the upper parts of the 
alluvial slopes and the mountain floods that are discharged over them 
sink quickly into the porous material, but the same cause that re- 
sults in the rapid absorption of water may result in its rapid removal. 
The ground water, seeking a lower level, easily finds its way down- 
ward through such material to the central flats, and consequently 
wells sunk near the mountams may reach the water table only at 
great depths or may stril^e bedrock without finding water. 

The unconsolidated sediments are the most important source of 
ground water, but they are not good water producers at every local- 
ity or horizon, the principal difficulties being (1) that they may be 
drained of their water, (2) that they may consist entirely of fine- 
grained material which does not permit the free passage of water, 
and (3) that the water may be salty. 

SOURCE AND DISPOSAL OF GROUND WATER. 

The annual hicrement to the water already stored in the ground is 
derived solely from the precipitation, but only a small part of the 
total rainfall reaches the water table. Much of the rain or snow 



OCCUREENCE OF GROUND AVATER. 27 

returns to the atinosphere by evaporation, either directly from the 
surface or after penetrating a short distance mto the ground. Some 
of the moisture that falls on the mountains sinks into the rocks but 
reappears at lower levels in the form of springs and seepages, giving 
rise to small streams that may flow for some distance but are usually 
dissipated by evaporation and by sinking into the ground. 

By far the greatest increment to the ground water is derived from 
floods. When there is a large amount of run-off from the mountains, 
because of heavy rams or melting snow, much water is discharged 
over the alluvial slopes and a part of it sinks into the loose material 
and descends to the water table. The underground supply thus aug- 
mented from time to time by contributions at the borders of a valley 
moves slowly toward the central flat, where through centuries the 
water level has risen until it is practically at the surface. On some 
of the valley flats and low deserts of northwestern Utah the ground 
water flows from springs and seeps or stands so high that it is brought 
to the surface by capillary action, the surplus in either case being 
disposed of ultimately by evaporation. The presence of sprmgs, 
swamps, and alkali flats indicates that the water is near the surface 
and that evaporation is going on. 

ARTESIAN CONDITIONS. 
BEDROCK. 

As a rule, conditions are unfavorable in this region for obtainmg 
artesian water from bedrock. The strata in the mountain areas gen- 
erally either dip away from the adjacent valleys or dip toward them 
so steeply that they carry the water to depths from which its recov- 
ery is impracticable. Ordinarily, too, the rocks are so broken by 
faulting and folding that they will not hold water under pressure. 

Except at one well in Park Valley, no flows have been struck in 
bedrock, and, except possibly in this valley, there is no place in the 
region where conditions are sufficiently favorable to warrant the 
expense of trying to get artesian water. 

UNCONSOLIDATED SEDIMENTS. 

Artesian water has been found in tlie unconsolidated sedmients at 
Willard and Kelton, on Dove Creek, near Rosette, in Boxelder County, 
and at Grantsville, Erda, and Vernon, in Tooele County. The fact 
that wells in these places have obtained flowing water has been a 
strong incentive for attempting to obtain flows in very unfavorable 
localities. For this reason the more fundamental conditions control- 
ling artesian flows are here set forth. 

The unconsolidated sediments in the valleys of nortliwestern 
Utah consist of gravel, clay, and fine sand. Beneath the alluvial 
slopes gravel predominates, but toward the central flats it gives way 



28 GKOUND WATEK IN BOXELDER AND TOOELE COUNTIES^ UTAH. 



to finer materials, consisting mainly of sand and clay in alternating 
layers. These beds of fine material are not entirely horizontal but 
conform to the general shape of the valleys, sloping from the central 
axis of a valley up toward the mountains. Clay is impervious, but 
sand and gravel are porous and allow the water to pass through them. 
The water that sinks into the gravel in the higher areas travels 
slowly toward the center of the valley, becomes confined below the 
curving clay beds, and accumulates back toward the mountains. 
The hydrostatic pressure thus produced may become so great that 
when the clay layers are punctured, as in drilling, the confined water 
will rise to the surface, forming .flowing wells. (See fig. 7.) 




UNCONSOLIDATED SEDiMENTS 



BEDROCK 



Impervious Porous sand and Porous sand Quartzite 
clay gravel above ground- and gravel below 

watertable ground-water table 



Crystalline 
rock 



Figure 7.— Perspective view and diagrammatic cross section of a typical valley, showing relation of alluvial 
slopes and central flats to water table, a, Dry hole which if simk deeper would strike bedrock without 
finding water; b, dry hole which would find water if sunk deeper; c, pump well of moderate depth; 
d, strong flowing well; e, weak flowing Avell. Dotted line represents base of alluvial slope. 

If the clay layers were perfectly impervious the head of water 
would in many valleys be great enough to produce flows with strong 
pressure, but in fact they allow the water to penetrate them to such 
an extent that few of the flowing wells have a head of more than a 
few feet. For this reason springs, seeps, and alkali flats, which 
show that the ground water is under sufiicient pressure to escape to 
the surface, are indicators of artesian conditions. A vaUey showing 
no overflow in the low places has poor prospects for flowing wells. 

Large steep aUuvial slopes and an abundant water supply from 
the mountains are also promising conditions for flows. Stronger 
wells are generafly obtained nearer the base of the slopes than farther 
out on the flat, because the slight disadvantage in level is more than 
counterbalanced by the greater coarseness of the sand and gravel and 
the closer proximity to the supply. 

Only a smaU part of the water now stored in the ground would 
flow out of wells without pumping, for a complete development of 



OCCURRENCE OF GROUND WATER. 29 

the artesian basins would reduce the level of the water head. The 
amount that can be recovered from flowing wells in each year, though 
dependent on the annual increment, is probably mdicated closely by 
the amount tliat escapes annually in low places by evaporation. This 
is far from being the unlimited supply that is often assumed for 
artesian basins. 

More water could probably be recovered in each of the flowing well 
areas of this region. Wells intended to supply water for irrigation 
should be of large diameter and should be sunk through all the water- 
bearing strata of the unconsolidated sediments. The casings should 
be perforated at each level where flows were encountered, thus insur- 
ing the greatest possible discharge. 

SPRINGS. 
MOUNTAIN SPRINGS. 

The springs of this region fall into two general classes — mountain 
springs and valley springs. The mountain springs include seepages 
and structural springs. 

The water from snow or rain sinking into the disintegrated material 
that covers the mountainous areas in some places may percolate 
through this loose debris until it meets some outlying ledge of rock 
which brings it to the surface. These springs, which may be classed 
as seepages, usually have only a slight discharge and are very suscepti- 
ble to differences in rainfall, being strongest during or shortly after a 
period of rainy weather and weakest during a period of drought. 
Many springs of this type occur in the mountains of northwestern 
Utah. 

In contrast with the seepages are the structural springs, whose 
occurrence depends on the rock formations. The water from rain or 
melting snow may penetrate into the mountain rocks, following 
cracks and fissures or some porous strata until it meets an outcroppmg 
ledge, fault, or fissure which forces it to the surface, where it gushes 
forth as a structural spring. The discharge of such springs is more 
nearly uniform than that of seepage springs and constitutes an im- 
portant part of the low-water flow of the permanent streams of this 
region. 

VALLEY SPRINGS. 

It has been explained that in most of the valleys and on the flat 
desert the sediments are saturated with water to the level of the 
lowest parts, and that as new supplies are added overflows occur in 
these low places. A large part of the overflow is accomplished by 
evaporation from mmute pores in the ground, but a part is accom- 
plished by the flow of water through larger openings in the ground, 
forming springs and seepages. Springs of this class commonly emerge 



30 GROUND WATER IN BOXELDER AND TOOELE COUNTIES, UTAH. 

at the bases of high alluvial slopes that receive a copious water supply 
and are least abundant in the central flats. Seepage springs of a sec- 
ond class are found in the unconsolidated sediments where stream 
channels have been eroded, as along the channels of Malad and Bear 
rivers. 

A third class of valley springs is represented in Park Valley. The 
unconsolidated deposits of this valley are underlain near the moun- 
tains by Tertiary beds, chiefly limestone, that outcrop in a few places. 
The water that sinks into the unconsolidated beds creeps along on 
top of the limestone until it is brought to the surface. Springs pro- 
duced in this way are more like the mountain seepage springs than 
the ordinary seepage springs in the valleys. Most of the springs in 
Park Valley are of this class. 

HOT SPRINGS. 

Near the surface the temperature of the ground varies with the sea- 
sonal changes in the weather, but at certain depths the rocks and the 
water they contain are not affected by these changes but maintain 
a constant temperature, which is approximately the mean annual 
temperature of the region. At greater depths the rocks and water 
become gradually warmer, the increase being generally about 1° F. 
for each 50 to 100 feet of increase in depth. Where lava has been 
brought to the surface or injected into the rocks or where the strata 
have been subjected to deformation movements the increase in tem- 
perature is much more rapid. If the temperature of water that 
issues from a spring is higher than the mean annual temperature 
the spring is a thermal spring. The high temperatures indicate that 
the water comes from a deep source or from rocks that have been 
heated by volcanic activity or deformation, or possibly by some other 
agency. 

This region contains a number of springs whose waters are dis- 
tinctly above the normal. The principal ones are the hot springs at 
Hot Springs, at Honeyville, near Plymouth, and at the south end of 
Little Mountain. These are all in lower Bear River valley and all 
occur near fault lines in the Paleozoic strata. It seems probable 
that their waters come from great depths or from rocks that have 
been heated by deformation. 

QUALITY OF GROUND WATER. 

SUBSTANCES CONTAINED IN WATER. 

The nearly pure water that falls as rain or snow takes up quantities 
of the soluble salts with which it comes into contact as it percolates 
through the earth, and therefore water from springs or wells always 
contains more or less mineral matter in solution. The mineral sub- 



QUALITY OF GROUND WATER. 



31 



stances, which are mvisible while dissolved, are left in solid form, 
when the water is evaporated, as the scale in boilers and teakettles 
or the white crust on alkali flats. The dissolved substances consist 
chiefly of calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, and the chloride, 
carbonate, bicarbonate, and sulphate radicles, but small amounts of 
other soluble substances are generally present. 

METHOD OF ANALYSIS. 

About 150 samples of water from northwestern Utah were tested 
by the methods described in Water-Supply Paper 151,^ estimates 
being made of the chlorides, carbonates, bicarbonates, sulphates, 
and total hardness. Four samples thus tested were analyzed in the 
laboratory by J. R. Bailey of the University of Texas, as a check on 
the field work, with the results shown in the following table. The 
differences between the field and laboratory estimates are not great 
enough to prevent fair judgment of the general value and character 
of the waters by means of the results of the field assays. The nor- 
mal carbonate reported in the laboratory analyses probably devel- 
oped during transit by the decomposition of bicarbonates. In the 
table the first fine opposite each sample represents the laboratory 
analysis and the second line the field assay. 

Comparison of laboratory analyses and field assays of waters in northwestern Utah. 

[Parts per million.] 



No. of 
sample. 


Depth 
of well. 


Depth 

to 
water. 


Cal- 
cium 

(Ca). 


Magne- 
sium 

(Mg). 


Sodium 
and po- 
tassium 
(Na-t-K). 


Carbo- 
nate 
radicle 

(CO3). 


Bicar- 
bonate 
radicle 
(HCO3). 


Sulphate 
radicle 
(SO4). 


Total 
hard- 
ness. 


Chlorine 
(CI). 


10 


Feet. 


Feet. 


/ 36 
\ «65 
1 56 
\ o85 
f 83 
\ alio 
f 74 
t O80 


18 


6 
&18 
112 
6 07 

2re 

&190 

58 

6 143 


13 


15 


10 

8 



162 
148 
315 
381 
205 
270 
180 
263 


12 
30 
33 
30 
44 
38 
27 
30 


163 
134 
227 
214 
367 
270 
275 
204 


8 




17 


9 




125 


21 


107 

147 


131 


39 


429 




405 


225 




142 


22 


146 

175 









a Calcium and magnesium (Ca+Mg) computed from the total hardness of field assays. 
6 Computed from the amounts of chlorine, bicarbonates, sulphates, and hardness. 

10. Waterworks, Brigham. Water from Boxeldcr Creek. 
125. Dug well of C. W. GoodlifTe, Park Valley. 
131. Waterworks, Snowville. Water from spring. 
142. State drilled well, sec. 12, T. 13 N., R. 7 W. 

The accuracy of the field assays has been discussed by Dole^ who 
makes the following statement based on his work in San Joaquin 
VaUey, Cal.: 

The average error in the test for bicarbonates was found to be a little over 6 parts 
per million, or 3.5 per cent, with waters containing 100 to 350 parts per million of 

1 Leighton, M. O., Field assay of water: Water-Supply Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 151, 1905. 

2 Dole, R. B., Rapid examination of water: Econ. Geology, vol. 6, No. 4, June, 1911, p. 340. 

287°— wsp 333—13 3 



32 GKOUND WATER IN BOXEDDER AND TOOELE COUNTIES, UTAH. 



bicarbonates. The errors range from to 9 per cent, and computation shows that they 
probably occur in measuring the water. ^ * ^ 

The field results on low chlorines may vary from the true values 5 parts, but such 
discrepancy offers little practical disadvantage because it is as useful in reconnaissance 
to know that a water contains less than 10 parts of chlorines, for instance, as to know 
that it contains exactly 6.7 parts. The average error in waters containing more than 
50 parts of chlorine was found to be 6 parts, or 3.2 per cent. * * * Twenty-seven 
of the fifty-two waters contained more than 30 parts of sulphates and the average 
error of determination in those was 10 per cent. Individual determinations of high 
sulphates are liable to great error because a difference of 1 cubic centimeter in meas- 
uring the water during dilution or a difference of 1 millimeter in measuring the tur- 
bidity is proportionately magnified in the result. The best depth for the readings is 
between 20 and 190 millimeters, corresponding respectively to 328 and 36 parts per 
million, and the probable error in that range is 8.5 per cent. 

SUBSTANCES DISSOLVED IN WATERS OF NORTHWESTERN UTAH. 

The ground waters of northwestern Utah are similar in composi- 
tion to those of other arid regions. Most of those from the alluvial 
slopes contain less dissolved matter than those from the central part 
of the valleys and those from high valleys less than those in alkaU 
flats. Chlorine is the most abundant element, the assays showing a 
maximum of about 27,000 parts per miUion in the waters tested. 
Normal carbonates are uncommon in most of the area, but in lower 
Bear River valley as much as 120 parts per million were found. Of 
the bicarbonates 735 parts per million were found, but this amount 
is much above the average. Sulphates ranged from a small amount 
to 690 parts, but the average was below 50. The highest total hard- 
ness recorded is 500 parts per milHon, and the waters in general are 
very hard. Those containing the greatest amount of dissolved mat- 
ter are in lower Bear River valley, where the ground supply is in- 
fluenced by irrigation. 

RELATION OF DISSOLVED SUBSTANCES TO DOMESTIC USE. 

To be entirely acceptable for domestic use water should be free 
from disease-producing organisms and low in dissolved mineral mat- 
ter. The nearer these conditions are approached the better the 
water is for consumptioUo Most of the bacteria that water may con- 
tain are probably harmless, but some may produce typhoid fever or 
other diseases, and for this reason wells from which domestic suppUes 
are to be obtained should be carefully located and shallow weUs near 
stables and privies should be avoided. The danger is greatest where 
water is taken from streams or canals. 

The amount of dissolved mineral substances permissible in domes- 
tic water depends much on their nature. No more than traces of 
barium, copper, zinc, or lead should be present, because these sub- 
stances are poisonous. Iron is objectionable because it renders the 



QUALITY OF GROUND WATER. 33 

water unpalatable and causes stains on clothing and vessels. Hydro- 
gen sulphide in large quantities is nauseating to smell and has a strong 
corrosive action on metal fittiugs. 

According to Dole ^ 250 parts per million of clilorine is suflB^jient to 
make water taste ''salty," and less amounts cause corrosion. Mac- 
Dougal,^ judging from experience in the desert, states that waters 
containing 2,500 parts per milhon of dissolved salts may be used for 
many days without serious discomfort; that those containlug as 
much as 3,300 parts can be used only by hardened travelers; and 
that those containing 5,000 parts or more are inimical to health and 
comfort but might suffice for a few hours to save the life of a person 
who had been wholly without water. Stabler ^ found that in Carson 
Sink, Nevada, a water containing 1,300 parts per million of chlorine 
was used for druiking without apparent ill effect, and others con- 
taining 1,185 and 1,060 parts were considered by the users to be of 
good quality. The wide range between these estimates may be con- 
sidered to represent the difference between the amount of salt per- 
ceptible to taste and the amount that can be tolerated if necessary. 

Hardness of water is caused by calcium and magnesium, which 
form with soap an iasoluble curdy precipitate, and it may be estimated 
from the results of a chemical analysis by means of the formula: 
Hardness = 2.5 calcium + 4.1 magnesium.* The chief objection to 
hardness in water for domestic use is the increased consumption of 
soap which it causes. 

Though about 400 parts per million of the sulphate radicle are per- 
ceptible to the taste, water contaiaing much more may be used with- 
out serious effect. Stabler^ reports that water containing 1,550 
parts of sulphates was considered good by its consumers. This 
quantity might be objectionable because of the laxative effect of 
sulphates on persons unaccustomed to them. 

The alkali carbonates are most objectionable where present in water 
in large quantities. Bicarbonates are not so injurious as normal 
carbonates, but they may be converted into the latter form by 
removal of carbon dioxide. That the quantity of alkali salts of this 
nature may be great without causing harmful effect is proved by the 
fact that the well-known Apollinaris water, which contains an equiva- 
lent of about 2,100 parts per miUion of sodium bicarbonate,^ is used 
exclusively for drinking by many persons. 

1 Dole, R. B., Chemical character of water of north-central Indiana, Water-Supply Paper U. S. Geol. 
Survey No. 254, 1910, p. 237. 

« MacDougal, D. T., Botanical features of North American deserts: Pub. Carnegie Inst. Washington 
No. 99, 1908, p. 109. 

3 Stabler, Herman, unpublished data. 

* Dole, R. B., Rapid examination of water: Econ. Geology, vol. 6, No. 4, June, 1911. 

» Anderson, Winslow, Mineral springs and health resorts of California, San Francisco, 1892, p. 322. 



34 GEOUND WATER IN BOXELDER AND TOOELE COUNTIES, UTAH. 

RELATION OF DISSOLVED SUBSTANCES TO USE IN IRR-IGATION. 

SOURCE OF ALKALI. 

The most common constituents of water that are injurious to plants 
are the sulphate, chloride, and carbonate of sodium. Sodium sul- 
phate and sodium chloride are known to irrigators as ''white alkali," 
from the fact that they gi^pear as a white incrustation on the soil 
when the water containing them is evaporated. Sodium carbonate 
is commonly known as ''black alkali," because it forms with the 
humus of the soil solutions a dark-colored compound that leaves 
black rings on the ground. 

All soils and rocks contain the elements which in contact with 
water are formed into alkalies. In regions of copious rainfall the 
alkalies do not become abundant enough to be injurious to plants 
because they are washed away as fast as they are formed. In regions 
of deficient rainfall, however, the drainage is imperfect and allows 
most of the water to be evaporated in low places, consequently the 
soluble salts are deposited in the central flats, where they become 
concentrated in such amounts that plants are stunted or even killed. 
Thus alkali is not uniformly distributed over the surface of the ground 
or throughout the soil. The position at which it is likely to occur in 
dangerous quantities is on or very near the surface. Even there, 
however, it is more abundant on the central flats and in other depres- 
sions than on the higher alluvial slopes. It decreases in quantity 
with depth and seldom occurs in injurious amounts more than a few 
inches below the surface. The accumulation of alkali in some places 
is augmented by irrigation, for water thus appHed may sink to a slight 
depth into the soil and later be brought by capillary action to the 
surface, where it deposits on evaporation not only the original salts 
which it held but the additional amounts which it has dissolved from 
the soil. 

LIMITS OF ALKALI IN SOIL. 

The amount of alkali that may be contained in soil in which 
crops can be grown successfully has been the subject of much investi- 
gation. Permissible amounts have been determined in some regions, 
but so many factors influence such estimates that the results are 
not appHcable to regions that are widely separated. In the Dakotas, 
for instance, crops may be grown in soils with higher alkali content 
than in southern California, because of the quantity and distribution 
of the natural precipitation. 

The report of the Bureau of Soils ^ in regard to the resistance of 
plants to alkali in lower Bear River valley says: 

Young wheat was found doing well with from 0.50 to 0.56 per cent of salt in the 
surface foot, and oats were growing not quite so favorably. Both crops, however, 
would apparently mature satisfactorily. 

1 Jensen, C. A. V., Strahorn, A. T., Soil survey of the Bear River area, Utah, 1904, pp. 28-30. 



QUALITY OF GROUND WATER. 



35 



During the spring, when sugar beets were young, tests were made at the root crowns 
of beets that seemed to be growing in their limit of alkali, and the amount of soluble 
salt found in the first foot was 1.52 per cent. Late in the summer the same field was 
visited and borings were made in the same alkali spot, and it was found that beets 
were growing well and would mature in soil carrying from 2.50 per cent to 4.70 per 
cent in the surface foot, with 0.42 per cent to 0.84 per cent in the second foot. 

In the early part of the season, when the beets were 4 or 5 inches high, it was found 
that 1.50 per cent of soluble salts in the first foot was about the maximum content 
that the beets could stand. Other plants were examined that were dying, but in no 
case was it found that any of these were growing in less than 1.50 per cent. 

An interesting case of alfalfa growing in alkali soil was found in section 31, T. 10 
N., R. 3 W. A heavy, well-matured crop was growing in soil containing the follow- 
ing percentages of salt from the first to the sixth foot, respectively: 0.14, 0.27, 0.43, 
2.00, 3.12, and 3.75, an average of 1.62 per cent, and there was standing water at 
4 feet. 

An apple and peach orchard was found dying in section 1, T. 9 N., R. 3W., where 
the salt content, in percentages, from the first to the sixth foot, respectively, was as 
follows: 0.09, 0.16, 0.39, 0.48, 0.69, and 0.86, an average of 0.44 per cent. Standing 
water was here at 4 feet below the surface, and this is not a good test as to the effect 
of alkali alone, as with the water table so near the surface it also would be likely to 
interfere with the proper development of the trees. It is quite probable that if the 
water table had been 2 or 3 feet lower the trees would have been able to stand the 
amount of alkali found. 

Experiments were conducted in California to determine the quan- 
tities of the various forms of alkali that might be present in soils 
in which cultures grew and reached maturity. The following table,^ 
compiled from the reports of these experiments, gives the maximum 
tolerances observed on crops that are grown in Utah. The several 
columns are independent of one another; the figure for total alkali 
is not the summation of the figures in the first three columns, but is 
based on independent data. 

Highest amount of alkali in which plants were found unaffected. 
[Quantities expressed in pounds per acre in 4 feet depth.] 



Sodium 


Sodium 


Sodium 


sulphate 


carbonate 


chloride 


(NaoSO^). 


(Na2C03). 


(NaCl). 


40,800 


7,550 


9,640 


17,800 


1,760 


1,360 


14,240 


640 


1,240 


9,600 


680 


1,000 


8,640 


480 


960 


3,360 


160 


2,240 


11,120 


2,360 




102,480 






61,840 


9,,S40 


9,680 


52,640 


4,(KH) 


10,240 


15, 120 


1,4 SO 


1,1(50 


12, 020 


12,170 


5,100 


9,800 


960 


1,720 


4,080 




9,600 





Total 
alkali. 



Grapes 

Pears 

Apples 

Peaches 

Apricots 

Mulberries...... 

Alfalfa (voung) 
Alfalfa (old)... 

Sorghum 

Sugar beets 

Wheat 

Barley 

Rye 

Celery 



45, 760 
20,920 
16, 120 
11,280 
10,080 
5,760 
13,120 
110,320 
81,360 
59,840 
17,280 
25,520 
12,480 
13,680 



Hilgard, E. W., Soils, New York, 1906, p. 467. 



36 GROUND WATER LN" BOXELDER AND TOOELE COUNTIES, UTAH. 
LIMITS OF ALKALI IN WATER. 

Basing his figures on the foregoing data of Hilgard and others, 
Stabler ^ has deduced formulas for classifying waters with respect to 
their value for irrigation. The fundamental principle in his work 
is the determination of the alkali coefficient, which may be defined 
as the depth in inches of water which on evaporation would yield 
sufficient alkaU to render a 4-foot layer of soil toxic to the most 
sensitive plants. Whether injury would actuaUy result from the 
application of such a water depends on conditions outside of the 
quahty of the water. The method of irrigation, the crops grown, 
the character of soil, and the drainage would all have an important 
bearing, but are conditions of which the analyst would know but 
little. Therefore, it should be clearly understood that the alkaU 
coefficient gives no information in regard to those conditions. In 
computing the formulas sodium as NaaCOg was regarded 10 times 
more toxic and in the form of NaCl 5 times more toxic than sodium 
as Na2S04. 

The alkali coefficient (k) may be calculated from the data of a 
water analysis by means of the following formulas : 

1. When Na — 0.65Clis zero or negative, k = —pp. 

2. When Na-0.65C1 is positive but not greater than 0.48SO^ 

, _ 6620 
Na + 2.6Cr 

3. When Na - 0.65C1 - 0.4880^ is positive, k = js^^ - 32C1 - 43SO * 
In the absence of a determination of sodium and potassium Na 

may be estimated from the equation 

Na = 0.4lHCO3 + 0.83CO3 + 0.7lCl + 0.52SO4-1.25Ca-2.06Mg. 

If calcium and magnesium have not been determined, one-half the 
total hardness as CaCOg may be substituted for the last two terms 
of the preceding equation. 

The following approximate classification, which is based on ordi- 
nary irrigation practice in the United States, indicates in a very 
general way the customary limitations in the use of waters having 
various alkah coefficients: 

1 stabler, Herman, Some stream waters of the western United States: Water-Supply Paper U. S. 
Geol. Survey No. 274, 1911, pp. 177-179. 



MALAD AND LOWEE BEAK RIVER VALLEYS. 

Classification ofirngation waters. 



37 



Alkali coefljcient. 


Class. 


Remarks. 




Good 

Fair 

Poor 

Bad 


Ilave been used successfully for many years without sepcial care to 


18 to 6 


prevent alkali accumulation. 
Special care to prevent gradual alkali accumulation has generally been 


5 9 to 1 2 


found necessary except on loose soils with free drainage. 
Care in selection of soils has been found to be imperative, and artificial 


Less than 1.2 


drainage has frequently been found necessary. 
Practically valueless for irrigation. 



WATER SUPPLY BY AREAS. 

MALAD AND LOWER BEAR RIVER VALLEYS. 
TOPOGRAPHY. 

The area between the Wasatch Mountains and the Blue Springs 
Hills is a single structural basin which received the drainage of two 
streams. (See PL I, in pocket.) Malad Eiver rises in Idaho and flows 
south through the basin, and Bear River enters through a gap in 
the Wasatch Mountains near ColHnston. The two rivers unite at 
Corinne and flow to Great Salt Lake. The area along Malad River 
north of Plymouth is regarded as Malad Valley and the area south of 
that point along Bear River as lower Bear River valley. The width 
of this basin is variable; lower Bear River valley in the vicinity of 
Corinne is about 18 miles wide, but it gradually narrows northward 
to the State line, where the distance between the Wasatch Mountains 
and the Blue Spring Hills is only 3 J miles. 

The floor of these valleys, which rises gradually from the lake 
toward the north, is smooth and regular except near Bear and Malad 
rivers, which have intrenched themselves in the unconsolidated 
sediments, and in the vicinity of Little Mountain, which projects 
abruptly above the surface. After the recession of Lake Bonneville 
Bear and Malad rivers eroded their channels until they reached the 
limit of erosion. They are therefore deeply intrenched and flow in 
broad winding channels over the flood plains which they have 
built along their courses. North and east of Bear River Bay the land 
is low, swampy, and alkaline. The boundary of this tract on the 
east side of the bay practically coincides with the railroad, but north 
of the bay its boundary is very irregular. ^Ukali and swamp land 
extend along the Wasatch Mountains to Honeyville and along the 
Blue Spring Hills north of Little Mountain, but a tract of good farm 
land extends along Bear River nearly to the lake. North of this 



38 GKOUND WATEK IN BOXELDEE AND TOOELE COUNTIES, UTAH. 

alkaline and swampy tract the land is well drained and excellently- 
adapted to agriculture. The mountains on either side rise abruptly, 
and the alluvial slopes along their borders are consequently high and 
steep, the central flat extending nearly from mountain to mountain. 
On the east the lofty Wasatch Mountains rise to an almost uniform 
height of about 9,000 feet above sea level except for a short distance 
near ColUnston where they descend to form the pass leading to Cache 
Valley. Bear River has cut its way through the mountains at this 
place but not through the lowest part of the pass. On the west side 
of the valley the Blue Spring Hills rise to a height of about 7,000 feet 
above sea level, or from 2,000 to 3,000 feet above the level of Great 
Salt Lake. 

GEOLOGY. 
BEDROCK. 

The indurated strata are confined to the mountainous areas. 
Those exposed in the Wasatch Mountains consist of limestones, 
quartzites, schists, and slates of Paleozoic ^ and Tertiary ^ age. In 
most places they dip to the east at a steep angle, but locally they 
are inclined in other directions. A great fault occurs at the foot of 
these mountains, the rocks on the east side of the fault being raised 
with respect to those on the west and a complete section of the 
Paleozoic rocks being exposed. 

The Blue Springs Hills are variously tilted and folded, but in gen- 
eral they take the form of a broad syncline, the strata on both sides of 
the hills being exposed by faulting. The age of the rocks in these 
hills has not been definitely determined, but they resemble the Car- 
boniferous rocks in other parts of the region. 

Little Mountain, which projects through the unconsoHdated sedi- 
ments west of Corinne and covers an area of about 7 square liiiles, is 
composed of beds of indurated limestone and quartzite that dip 
about 20° N. 

XTNGONSOLIDATED SEDIMENTS. 

The unconsolidated sediments, which are composed of fragmental 
material derived from the adjoining mountains, have been referred 
to the Pleistocene series by Gilbert and others. No deep wells have 
been sunk in this basin, and the depth to which these unconsolidated 
sediments extend has not been determined, but well borings in the 
vicinity of Farmington (see p. 11) show that in that locality they are 
more than 2,000 feet thick. The following section of strata exposed 
on the banks of Bear River near Dewey ville is typical of the material 
encountered in the shallow wells of the central flat. 

1 Hague, Arnold, Kept. U. S. Geol. Expl. 40th Par., vol 2, p. 403; also Blackwelder, Eliot, New light 
on the geology of the Wasatch Mountains, Utah: Bull. Geol. Soc. America, vol. 21, 1910, pp. 517-542. 

2 From fossils collected by the ^vrite^. 



MALAD AND LOWER BEAR RIVER VALLEYS. 39 

Section of unconsolidated sediments near Dewey ville, Utah. 

Feet. 

Soil 5 

Sand and clay 4 

Red clay 6 

Sandy clay 12+ 

27+ 
SURFACE WATER. 

STREAMS. 

Malad and loVer Bear River valleys receive the drainage of approxi- 
mately 6,500 square miles. Bear River, the largest stream, rises on 
the north slope of the Uinta Mountains in the northeastern part of 
Utah, and after a circuitous course, in which it enters Wyoming, 
reenters Utah, appears again in Wyoming, and makes a long detour 
in Idaho, it returns to Utah through Cache Valley, breaks through 
the Wasatch Mountains near CoUinston, and makes its way to Great 
Salt Lake. It drains an area of 6,000 square miles above the gap at 
CoUinston, and furnishes water for irrigating large tracts of land. 
A gaging station has been maintained since 1889 near CoUinston 
below the intake of the irrigation canals. In 1907, after a year of 
excessive rainfall, the run-off amounted to 2,680,000 acre-feet, and in 
1890, 1894, 1897, 1899, and 1909 it was also hi excess of 2,000,000 
acre-feet. In 1895, the driest year at Corinne recorded by the Weather 
Bureau during this period, the run-off was only 701,000 acre-feet. 

Malad River, whose drainage area comprises only about 500 square 
miles, is an unimportant source of water for irrigation in these vaUeys 
on account of the poor quality of its water. In its upper course, how- 
ever, the water is extensively used. No measurements have been 
made of its discharge. 

Boxelder and WUlard creeks rise in the Wasatch Mountains near 
Brigham and are second in importance to Bear and Malad rivers as 
sources of irrigation water. Their drainage areas are small, probably 
together covering little more than one township. The discharge of 
Boxelder Creek averages about 24 second-feet,^ but fluctuates con- 
siderably throughout the year, being least in summer and greatest in 
spring. 

QUALITY OF SURFACE WATER. 

The surface waters examined from these vaUeys are of fair quality 
for domestic use and entirely suitable for UTigation. Two analyses 
have been made of water from Bear River, one sample bemg taken from 
the canal and the other from the river at Cormne. These analyses 
were made at different times and are therefore not strictly comparable, 

1 Jensen, C. A., and Strahorn, A. T., Soil survey of the Bear River area, Utah: Seventh Eept. Field 
Operations Bur. Soils, U. S. Dept. Agr., 1905, p. 23. 



40 GKOUND WATEE IN BOXELDEE AND TOOELE COUNTIES^ UTAH. 

but the great differences which they show are doubtless largely due 
to an increase of miaeral matter toward the mouth of the stream. 
Such increase is caused partly by the return seepage of the water 
applied in irrigation, which carries the salts from the soil into the river, 
and partly by the water of Malad River, which empties into Bear 
River above Corinne. The water of Boxelder Creek is low in dissolved 
solids and is good for every purpose, as is shown by the analysis in 
the following table. The first two analyses, reported in grains per 
gallon in hj^othetical combinations, have been recalculated to ionic 
form in parts per million in order that they may be comparable with 
other analyses in this report. 

Analyses of stream waterfront Malad and lower Bear River valleys. 
[Parts per million.] 





Location. 


Source. 


Cal- 
cium 

(Ca). 


Magne- 
sium 

(Mg). 


So- 
dium 

and 
potas- 
sium 

(Na 
+K). 


Carbon- 
ate 
radicle 

(CO3). 


Bicar- 
bonate 
radicle 
HCO3). 


Sul- 
phate 
radicle 
(SCO. 


Total 
hard- 
ness 
as 
CaCOaa. 


Chlo- 
rine 
(CI). 


1 


Northwest comer 


Canal. 
Bear E 




54 

64 
36 


27 

30 

18 


57 

130 
6 


11 

6 137 
13 


254 
""162" 


40 

52 
12 


245 

285 
165 


56 


? 


sec. 

R.3 
Corinn* 
Brigha 


I, T. 11 N., 
W. 




206 


s 


tn 


Boxelder 
Creek. 


8 










Dis- 
solved 
solids. 


Esti- 
mated 
scale- 
forming 
ingre- 
dients. 


Esti- 
mated 
foaming 
ingre- 
dients. 


Proba- 
bility 

of 
corro- 
sion. 


Quality 

for 

boiler 

use. 


Quality 

for 
domestic 

use. 


Alkali 
coef- 
ficient 
(k). 


Quality 

for 
irriga- 
tion. 


Mineral 
content. 


Chemical 
charac- 
ter. 


1 

2 
3 


499 
637 
220 


270 
310 
190 


150 

350 

15 


N.C.... 
...do--.. 


Poor 

Bad 

Good.— 


Fair 

Poor.-.. 
Good.... 


In. 
30 
16 
25 


Good...- 

Fair 

Good.... 


Moderate 

High 

Moderate. 


Na-COs 

Na-Cl 

Ca-COa 



a Computed by formula T. H. = 2.5 Ca + 4.1 Mg. 
b Carbonates and bicarbonates computed as CO3. 

1. Utah-Idaho Sugar Co., owner. Jensen, C. A., and Strahorn, A. T., Soil survey of Bear River area, 
Utah. Seventh Rept. Field Operations Bur. Soils, U. S. Dept. Agr., 1905, p. 22. 

2. Analysis by Southern Pacific Co. 

3. Analysis by J. R. Bailey, Austin, Tex. 

The relative proportions of the mineral constituents in the water of 
Great Salt Lake remain nearly the same, but their concentration 
varies with changes in the lake level. The average salinity is always 
several times greater than that of sea water, being nearly 20 per cent, 
or 200,000 parts per milUon. The following analyses and the dis- 
cussion of them are quoted from Clarke.^ 

1 Clarke, F. W., The data of geochemistry, 2d ed.: Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 491, 1911, pp. 143, 144. 



MALAD AND LOWER BEAR RIVER VALLEYS. 



41 



Analyses of water from Great Salt Lake 
[Percentage of anhydrous residue.] 





1 


2 


3 


4 


5 


6 

55.25 

Trace. 

6.73 


7 


8 


CI 


55.99 

Trace. 

6.57 


56.21 


55.57 


56.54 


55.69 

Trace. 

6.52 


55.11 


53.72 


Br 




SO4 


6.89 
.07 


6.86 


5.97 


6.66 


5.95 


COa . 




Li 


Trace. 

33.15 

1.60 

.17 

2.52 






.01 

32.92 

1.70 

1.05 

2.10 

.01 


Trace. 

34.65 

2.64 

.16 

.57 






Na .. 


33.45 
(?) 

.20 
3.18 


33.17 

1.59 

.21 

2.60 


33.39 

1.08 

.42 

2.60 


32.97 

3.13 

.17 

1.96 


32 81 


K 


4 99 


Ca 


.31 


Mg 


2 22 


FeaOs, AI2O3, Si02 




















Salinity (total solids) per cent of total 
water 


100.00 
14.994 


100.00 
13. 790 


100.00 
15.671 


100.00 
19.558 


100.00 
O23.036 


100.00 

27. 72 


100.00 

22.99 


100.00 

17.68 







o More correctly, 230.355 grams per liter. 

1. By O. D. Allen, Rept. U. S. Geol. Expl. 40th Par., vol. 2, 1877, p. 433. Water collected in 1869. A 
trace of boric acid is also reported in addition to the substances named in the table. Allen also gives 
analyses of a saline soil from a mud flat near Great Salt Lake. It contained 16. 40 per cent of soluble matter 
much like that of the lake water. 

2. By Charles Smart. Cited in Resources and attractions of the Territory of Utah, Omaha, 1879. Analy- 
sis made in 1877. 

3. By E. von Cochenhausen, for C. Oclisenius, Zeitschr. Deutsch. geol. Gesell., vol. 34, 1882, p. 359. 
Sample collected by Ochsenius April 16, 1879. Ochsenius also gives an analysis of the salt manufactured 
from the water of Great Salt Lake. 

4. By J. E. Talmage, Science, vol. 14, 1889, p. 445. Collected in 1889. An analysis of a sample taken in 
1885 is also given. 

5. By E. Waller, School of Mines Quart., vol. 14, 1892, p. 57. A trace of boric acid is also reported. 

6. By W. Blum. Collected in 1904. Recalculated to 100 per cent. Reported by Talmage in Scottish 
Geog. Mag., vol. 20, 1904, p. 424, An earlier paper by Talmage on the lake is in the same journal, vol. 17, 
1901, p. 617. 

7. By W. C. Ebaugh and K. Williams, Chem. Zeitung, vol. 32, 1908, p. 409. Collected in October, 1907. 

8. By W. Macfarlane, Science, vol. 32, 1910, p. 568. Collected in February, 1910. A number of other 
analyses, complete or incomplete, are cited in this paper by Ebaugh and Macfarlane. 

The absence of carbonates, the higher sodium, and the lower magnesium are the 
most definite variations from the oceanic standard; but the general similarity, the 
identity of type, is unmistakable. Gilbert estimates the quantity of sodium chloride 
contained in the lake at about 400 millions and the sulphate at 30 millions of tons. 

IRRIGATION WITH SURFACE WATER. 

The most important factor in the irrigation of lower Bear River 
valley is the canal system owned by the Utah-Idaho Sugar Co. 
This system, which diverts water from Bear River 2 miles above the 
electric power plant, was begun in the late eighties, but was not 
brought to its present efficiency until a much later date. About 
45,000 acres are irrigated at present and it is estimated by the com- 
pany that 10,000 acres more can be watered with the present supply. 
About 1,300 second-feet are diverted from the river at the intake of 
the canals, but several hundred second-feet are returned to the river 
in generating electric power. It appears that at present about 65 
acres are irrigated per second-foot of water. 



42 GROUND WATER IN BOXELDER AND TOOELE COUNTIES^ UTAH. 



GROUND WATER. 



SPRINGS. 



Seepage springs emerge along the foot of the slopes bordering the 
Wasatch Mountains and have been of great importance in the devel- 
opment of these valleys. They are present between Brigham and 
Deweyville and between Plymouth and the State line in great num- 
bers. Springs of the same type but saline in character are found at 
the south end of the Blue Spring Hills and the Little Mountains, but 
thermal springs are present at Hotspring station, near Honeyville 
and Plymouth, and at the south end of Little Mountain. These 
springs have temperatures ranging from 96° to 140° F., all but one 
being above 118° F. Analyses of three of these springs are given in 
the following table: 

Analyses of water from Hot Springs in lower Bear River valley, Utah. 
[Parts per million. Analyst, J. R. Bailey.] 



Location. 


Owner, 


Iron 
(Fe). 


Cal- 
cium 

(Ca). 


Mag- 
ne- 
sium 

(Mg). 


Sodium 
and po- 
tassium 
(Na+K). 


Car- 
bonate 
radicle 
(CO3). 


Bicar- 
bonate 
radicle 
(HCO3). 


Sul- 
phate 
radicle 
(SO4). 


Chlo- 
rine 
(CI). 


Dis- 
solved 
solids. 


South, end of 
Little Moun- 
tain. 

Hot Springs 

Honeyville 


W.F. House.. 

Hot Springs 

Sanitarium. 

James Madsen. 


2 

9 

1 


878 

1,174 
901 


379 

28 
- 218 


10,426 

8,563 
16,559 


0.0 

.0 
.0 


393 

188 
454 


20 

203 
497 


18,460 

15,079 
27,081 


30,440 

25,300 
45,541 



ARTESIAN WELLS. 

Flowing wells are found along the base of the alluvial slope near 
Willard. Their position is due without doubt to the fact that the 
slopes in this part of the valley receive a more bountiful supply of 
water than the slopes farther north. The flowing wells are 125 to 
150 feet deep and probably are all supplied from beds of sand and 
gravel in the valley fill. Nearly all are 2 inches or less in diameter 
and their natural flow is but a few gallons a minute. 

NONFLOWING WELLS. 

Nonflowing wells are obtained throughout lower Bear Kiver valley 
at very shallow depths, the irrigation system having raised the water 
table almost to the surface. Most of the wells sunk in the central 
flat find water at depths of 3 to 10 feet, and as a result of the high 
altitudes at which the canals have been placed, the wells sunk in the 
alluvial slopes also usually find water at shallow depths. The water 
table has thus been artificially raised, and in some places the nearness 
of the water to the surface greatly hampers farming operations. In 
Malad Valley, north of the irrigated districts, the average depth to 



MALAD AND LOWER BEAR RIVER VALLEYS. 43 

the water table is somewhat greater, but even in this valley the cen- 
tral flat is close to the water table. In the vicinity of Plymouth and 
northward to the State line water is found in less quantities at depths 
ranging from 10 to 135 feet. Plate I (in pocket) shows the depth at 
which the water stood in the wells in the summer of 1911. 

QTTALITY OF THE GROUND WATER. 

The table on pages 45-49 gives the results of 104 assays of water from 
wells and springs in Malad and lower Bear River valleys. Carbonates, 
bicarbonates, sulphates, chlorine, and total hardness were estimated in 
accordance with standard methods of field assay. (See p. 31.) The 
total amount of calcium and magnesium in each water has been 
roughly approximated from the total hardness and the quantity of alkali 
(sodium and potassium) has been calculated by means of the formula 
on page 36. Consequently both figures should be regarded as express- 
ing estimates and should not be too literally interpreted, as they 
serve merely to show in a general way the nature and amount of the 
bases. 

The alkali coefficients have been computed in accordance with 
the formulas given on page 36, and the waters have been rated with 
respect to their availability for irrigation by Stabler' s classification. 
Almost all supplies are poor for irrigation and many contain so much 
mineral matter as to be unfit for that purpose. It is apparent from 
the results of the assays that even the best of the waters could be 
applied only to soils that have been thoroughly underdrained and 
with great precaution to prevent undue accumulation of alkali, such 
as frequent irrigation with large quantities of water. Altogether 
the prospect of using these ground waters on crops does not seem 
encouraging. 

The designation 'Equality for domestic use" refers exclusively to 
the probable effect of the mineral ingredients on potability and has 
no relation whatever to the possibility of pollution or the danger of 
contracting disease by the use of infected supplies. The rating is 
based generally on the tolerance of the human system for dissolved 
mineral matter and on the quantities that render supplies disagree- 
able to taste. Though nearly all the waters are high enough in their 
content of mineral matter to have a distinct taste of alkali, a large 
proportion of them are drinkable. 

The supplies have been rated in respect to their quality for boiler 
use by means of formulas and classifications described by Dole.^ 
The approximate amount of scale that would be deposited is estimated 
from the total hardness and the tendency to foam from the estimated 
quantity of alkalies. The symbol N. C. indicates that corrosion would 

» Dole, R.B., Rapid examination of water in geologic surveys of water resources: Econ. Geology, vol. 6, 
19n,p.340. 



44 

probably not occur because of the mineral ingredients; C, that corro- 
sion would be likely to occur; and an interrogation mark, uncer- 
tainty as to corrosive action. Most of the waters contain rather 
moderate quantities of scale-forming matter, but are especially high 
in the alkali salts that would cause foaming. It would hardly be 
advisable to remove the scale-forming ingredients by softening, as 
the foaming ingredients would thereby be increased. The tendency 
to foam is so marked that nearly all the supplies would be generally 
considered bad for boiler use. 

Briefly, the assays show that these supplies are alkali waters of high 
mineral content, generally so high in foaming constituents as to be 
bad for use in boilers, and so concentrated as to be usable for irrigation 
only where extreme precautions are observed to prevent the accumula- 
tion of alkali. Most of them are drinkable, though many would have 
a taste of alkali. 



MALAP AND LOWER BEAR RIVER VALLEYS. 



45 



S2S 






■ ■ ■ I 



IIS 



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K : : 



c3 >>i; mS 



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C3 O C3 O 



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^ : : : 






:88 

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rajoj- dyeos paiBuiiisa 



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"los paA^ossip \^%ojj 



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MALAD AND LOWER BEAR RIVBE VALLEYS. 



47 



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48 



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MALAD AND LOWER BEAR RIVER VALLEYS. 



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50 GEOUND WATER IN BOXELDEE AND TOOELE COUNTIES, UTAH. 

The power for operating the pumps is obtained from the municipal 
electric lighting plant and costs a flat rate of $2 per horsepower per 
month. 

IRRIGATION. 

Over a large part of lower Bear Eiver valley ground water is at 
shallow depths, but the land on which it is found is already well 
irrigated with surface water. Near Brigham and Willard, where 
fruit is the principal crop and where power is cheap, water can be 
lifted a greater distance than at other places. Less water is needed 
for an orchard than for most field crops, and the value of the fruit 
permits a greater cost in irrigating. In this locality the discharge 
from Boxelder and Willard creeks can perhaps be made to do double 
duty by using the stream water on the higher parts of the alluvial 
slopes and pumping the underflow on the lower land where the water 
level is nearer the surface than it is close to the moimtaias. 

In Malad Valley and adjacent parts of lower Bear River valley 
the water table is in many places shallow enough to permit pumping 
for irrigation, but there is probably not sufficient water available to 
irrigate large areas. At Plymouth, although water for general irriga- 
tion can probably not be obtained, it is thought that sufficient water 
can be developed by pumping to irrigate gardens and orchards. 
Wells of large diameter should be dug to the first water-bearing 
strata, and smaller holes should be drilled in the bottom of these 
wells to the deeper water-bearing beds. The water that is found in 
the lower strata is generally under sufficient pressure to rise to the 
level of the first water. 

BLUE SPRING AND POCATELLO VALLEYS. 
TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY. 

Blue Sprmg and Pocatello valleys are bounded on the east by the 
Blue Spring Hills, which have been described in connection with 
lower Bear and Malad River valleys (p. 37), and on the west by 
the Promontory Range, which separates them from Hansel and 
Curlew valleys. (See PL I, in pocket.) The Promontory Range is 
about 70 miles long and from 1 to 10 miles wide. Its highest peaks 
reach an elevation of about 7,000 feet above sea level, but in a few 
places the range descends to form low passes. The geology of the 
north end of Promontory Range has not been studied, but at the 
south end limestone, quartzite, schist,^ and slate, ranging in age 
from pre-Cambrian to Carboniferous, are found. The strata dip to 
the west at a low angle, but are exposed on both sides of the range 
by faults. 

1 Hague, Arnold, Kept. U. S. Geol. Expl. 40th Par., vol. 2, 1877, pp. 420-429, 



BLUE SPRING AND POCATELLO VALLEYS. 51 

The area between these two mountain ranges is a structural trough 
separated into two drainage basins by a divide near the Utah-Idaho 
State hne. Pocatello Valley occupies the area north of the divide 
and Blue Spring Valley the area south of it. At Kolmar station, on 
the old line of the Southern Pacific Railroad, the two ranges come 
almost together and form a highland through which Blue Spring 
Creek has cut a canyon. A belt of lowland extends southward from 
this station along the west side of Bear River Bay to Promontory 
Point. 

Pocatello Valley is an almost flat-bottomed basin. It is about 12 
miles long and 7 miles wide and has but slight alluvial slopes. During 
wet periods the water collects over about 2 square miles in the central 
flat, but there is no other surface water in the valley. According to 
the well records, the unconsolidated sediments are mostly red clay 
and extend to a depth of more than 500 feet. 

The vertical range between the north end of Blue Spring Valley 
and Great Salt Lake is about 1,000 feet. This valley has high 
alluvial slopes, and the valley fill is coarser than that in Pocatello 
Valley. A few isolated bedrock hills project through the unconsoli- 
dated sediments, notably in the southern part. The largest one is 
just east of Howell; two others at the south end of the swampy tract 
below this settlement appear to form an underground dam across 
the valley which checks the underflow and produces a swamp. The 
area between the railroad and lake is alkaline and swampy and unfit 
for agriculture, but the land on the alluvial slopes west of the swampy 
tract and the bay is well adapted to farming and will perhaps be 
developed into a center for the fruit mdustry. 

During the Pleistocene epoch, when Lake Bonneville occupied tliis 
part of Boxelder County, the south end of the Blue Spring Hills, the 
Promontory Range south of the old line of the railroad, and the large 
hill west of Kolmar were islands and the remaining portions of the 
mountains bordering on these valleys were peninsulas. The divide 
that separates the trough into two drainage basins was at or very 
near the surface of the water and formed a barrier to the action of 
waves set in motion by the south winds. The waters in Pocatello 
Valley were thus much quieter than those in Blue Spring Valley, and 
the shore features were consequently less distinctly carved. The 
character of the sediments also indicates that the waters in the 
northern part of the trough were less disturbed than those in the 
southern part. In the former red clay comprises most of the valley 
fill, but in the latter sand and gravel are abundant. 

DEVELOPMENT. 

For a time after the settlement of this portion of Utah the lands 
in these valleys were used only for grazing, but since the develop- 



52 GROUND WATER IN BOXELDER AND TOOELE COUNTIES, UTAH. 

ment of dry-farming methods and the passage of the enlarged- 
homestead act they have been rapidly settled and now give promise 
of becoming an important grain-producing region. Houses have 
been built and wells suAk, and every attempt has been made to make 
these valleys suitable for habitation. Pocatello Valley, which has 
been settled longest, already produces valuable crops of wheat and 
barley, and Blue Spring Valley, although less developed, will doubtless 
also yield good crops. 

SPRINGS AND STREAMS. 

Blue spring Creek, which rises at the spring of that name, is the 
only stream in either of these valleys. It formerly flowed into Great 
Salt Lake but is now diverted for irrigation. The Promontory Curlew 
Land Co. has recently constructed a reservoir on this stream (sec. 6, 
T. 12 N., K. 5 W.), from which about 3,000 acres of land are to be 
irrigated by utilizing the water of these springs and the flood water 
that formerly ran to waste. Hillside Spring, southeast of Howell, 
forms a part of the supply for that settlement. There is one small 
spring at the base of the slope southeast of Bond, Idaho, in Pocatello 
Valley, and the water from another spring has been piped from the 
mountains to Bond for domestic supply. 

Along the foot of the slope bordering the Promontory Range south 
of Kolmar station seepage springs exist in great number. Some are 
potable and are used for irrigation, but most of them are too salty 
and are on land that is too low and swampy to be farmed. The 
Southern Pacific Co. has obtained an abundant supply for locomotives 
at Promontory Point by driving a 1,400-foot tunnel into the mountain 
in sec. 15, T. 6. N., R. 5 W. 

GROUND WATER. 

In Pocatello Valley the water table lies some distance below the 
surface. The wells range in depth from 165 to 500 feet, but the depth 
at which the water stands in most of the wells was not ascertained. 
In some of the weUs the water is reported to have risen 150 feet, but 
in others it rose only a few feet above the water-bearing strata. The 
weUs are all drilled and cased, the casing commonly being 4 inches 
in diameter. So far as could be determined the wells all end in the 
unconsolidated sediments, the strata encountered in drilling being 
chiefly red clay and gravel. Most of the wells in Pocatello Valley 
furnish enough water for farm use, but one or two yield only a few 
barrels a day. 

Near the south end of Blue Spring Valley the water table is near 
the surface, but toward the mountains and toward the north end it 
becomes deeper. The water table has the same general shape as the 



BLUE SPRING AND POCATELLO VALLEYS. 53 

land surface, but it rises toward the mountains and the upper end of 
the valley less rapidly than the surface. Most of the wells are drilled, 
but a few are dug in the vicinity of Howell, where the water is found 
nearer the surface. One or two of the wells in the north end of Blue 
Spring Valley have encountered lava, but this fact should not be dis- 
couraging as water may be found in crevices in the lava or in gravel 
beds beneath it. Most of the wells furnish an abundant supply of 
water for house and stock use, but the supply in a few is small. 

QUALITY OF WATER. 

In the nine samples assayed from these valleys the average content 
of chlorine is 295 parts per million. Hardness ranged from 160 to 
240, bicarbonates from 215 to 530, and sulphates from less than 30 to 
275. The waters are generally poor for use in boilers, numbers 150 
to 157 needing treatment for scale-forming ingredients and numbers 
150, 152, 154, 158, and 159 being rather high in foaming ingredients. 
The wells in Blue Spring Valley yield water that is fair for domestic 
supplies and for irrigation, but those examined in Pocatello Valley 
are poor. The waters are somewhat salty and generally high in 
mineral content. 



54 GROUND WATER IN BOXELDER AND TOOELE COUNTIES^ UTAH, 






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HANSEL VALLEY. 55 

IRRIGATION WITH GROUND WATER. 

In Pocatello Valley the water is too deep and the supply too small 
to be used for irrigation except possibly for gardens. Over most of 
Blue Spring Valley the ground water is also too deep to be utilized 
for irrigation except near the south end, where it may be found feasible 
to draw upon the gi'ound water for irrigation supply. On the lower 
parts of the slope bordering the Promontory Range south of Kolmar 
station few wells have been sunk, but water is lil^ely to be found at 
shallow depths and can probably be developed for irrigation. In 
order to ascertain the water supply it will be necessary to drill wells 
to a depth of a few hundred feet, being careful to tap any water beds 
that are penetrated and to test these wells by protracted pumpmg 
with large pumps. To be permanently successful a project must not 
draw from the underground reservoir at a rate more rapid than that 
at which the supply is replenished by nature, and for this reason 
extensive pumping developments should be made with great caution. 

HANSEL VALLEY. 
PHYSIOGRAPHY. 

Hansel Valley is bounded on the east by the Promontory Range 
and on the west by the Hansel Mountains and Great Salt Lake. The 
Hansel Mountains, which rise to a height of about 8,000 feet, are 
separated at their north end from the Promontory Range by a pass 
that forms a low divide between Curlew and Hansel valle3^s. (See 
PI. I.) Hansel Valley is a smooth debris-filled basin which drops 
by easy stages from the pass to the level of the lake. Irregularities 
in the topography are found near Rozel, where the Rozel Hills and 
Spring Bay Hill, composed of indurated strata, project through the 
valley fill to a height of a few hundred feet. The drainage of the 
main part of the valley passes north of the northernmost of these 
liills and discharges into Spring Bay, but the drainage of the part of 
the valley lying east of the hills passes southward near Rozel. A 
tract of low swampy land contours the lake and at the head of Spring 
Bay extends into the valley to the Salt Wells. 

All of Hansel Valley was flooded by Lake Bonneville, the waters 
covering the Rozel and Spring Bay hills and the pass between Hansel 
and Curlew valleys. (See fig. 2, p. 13.) The shore Imes are high 
on the mountain sides and the alluvial slopes are high and narrow. 
The valley floor, however, unlike that of most valleys in this region, 
is not flat except near the north end. South of the spur of Promon- 
tory Range that extends into the valley a few miles above Salt 
Wells the floor descends to a narrow channel which leads mto the 
swamp. 



66 GROUND WATER IN BOXELDER AND TOOELE COUNTIES, UTAH. 

GEOLOGY. 

The strata exposed in the Hansel Mountaias are mostly limestone 
and quartzite, but the range is covered near the south end by lava.^ 
The rocks appear to lie in a nearly horizontal position and they out- 
crop on both sides of the range. A heavy lava bed lies northeast of 
the valley and forms a conspicuous but narrow table which extends 
southeastward from a point in the pass along the west flank of Prom- 
ontory Range to the spur that projects into the valley from the range. 
The Rozel and Spring Bay hills are composed of Carboniferous lime- 
stone capped by a thick bed of lava. The valley fill extends to an 
unknown depth. The deepest well is 405 feet deep and is reported to 
have been drilled entirely in the unconsolidated sediments, though at 
the bottom it reached material resembling brecciated lava. 

VEGETATION. 

The native vegetation in this valley is of the semidesert type. The 
sagebrush zone is limited to the higher portions of the alluvial slope 
and the area north of the State well. Stunted shadscale covers the 
lower slopes and the central flat except near the swampy tract, where 
greasewood predominates. Salt grass and bulrushes are the chief 
types present on the swamp below the Salt Wells. Juniper trees are 
prevalent in the vicinity of Cedar Springs and in a few places on the 
mountain sides, and pines and cedars grow on the Hansel Mountains. 

DEVELOPMENT. 

There has been but little industrial development in this valley. The 
scarcity of springs and streams prevented settlement by irrigation farm- 
ers^ and the difiiculty of obtaining ground-water supplies for domestic 
use has in late y^ars retarded settlement by dry farmers. The settle- 
ment has been mostly temporary, the farmers residing in the valley 
only during the harvesting and planting of dry-farm crops. The cul- 
tivation of wheat, the principal product raised for market, has already 
had fairly good results, and crops of this staple will perhaps be more 
successful as the farms are placed in better condition. 

SPRINGS. 

There are but few springs in this valley. (See PL I, in pocket.) 
Dillies Spring, at the north end of the valley, is a seepage of about 
15 gallons a minute, which has been piped to Dillie's ranch. The so- 
called "salt wells," a group of spruigs in sec. 16, T. 12 N., E. 7 W., 
furnish brackish but drinkable water. These springs come out around 
the edge of the swamp only a few feet above the lake and therefore 

1 Hague, Arnold, Rept. U. S. Geol. Expl. 40th Par., vol. 2, 1877, p. 424. 



HANSEL VALLEY. 57 

at the ground- water level. The water flows over the swamp toward 
the lake, keeping it well supplied and rendering it a coveted area for 
stock raising. Cedar Spring, in sec. 35, T. 11 N., R. 7 W., emerges 
from the base of the terrace that marks the Provo shore line and 
discharges about 2 gallons a minute of fairly good water. Mud Spring 
issues from the ground in sec. 7, T. 9 N., R. 6 W., and has a flow not 
exceeding 3 gallons a minute. The railroad company has piped the 
water from a mountain spring to Rozel station, where water can be 
obtained by transients. 

WELLS. 

The development of ground-water supplies in this valley has been 
hindered by two unfavorable conditions: The water table over a 
large part of the valley lies at such depths that the expense of drill- 
ing renders water from this source almost prohibitive to persons of 
small means; and the wells thus far drilled in the lower parts of the 
valley have furnished only salty water. Three wells in the upper 
part of the valley yield good water. The State well, now owned by 
W. M. Gre-aves, in sec. 14, T. 13 N., R. 7 W., was drilled to a depth of 
405 feet, the water rising to a level 225 feet below the surface. The 
Chritchlow well, in sec. 10, T. 12 N., R. 7 W., obtained water at a 
depth of 350 feet, the water rising to a level 300 feet below the surface. 
This well is reported to have passed through 60 feet of disintegrated 
material, then to have encountered a bed of hard cemented gravel 
100 feet thick, and to have ended in sandstone which yields water of 
low mineral content, but too warm to be palatable. A well in sec. 
15, T. 11 N., R 7 W., obtained water high on the alluvial slope at 
a depth of 112 feet, but its supply is small. A well drilled in sec. 14, 
T. 12 N., R. 7 W., encountered at 50 feet water too salty even for 
stock. Drilling was continued to 150 feet, but no better water was 
found, and the well was abandoned. Several wells drilled on the flat 
south of Rozel have been abandoned because the water in them is 
unfit for use. Water for domestic use will probably be found on the 
lower slopes above Salt Wells and in the vichiity of Rozel at shallower 
depths than in the wells already drilled, and other deep wells may be 
drilled in the vicinity of the State well. Precaution should be taken 
not to sink the holes in close proximity to rock outcrops, as the chances 
of obtaining water are greatly reduced in such places. (See fig. 7, p. 28.) 
Heavier drilling machinery than that commonly used in this part of 
Utah could be operated more successfully. The type known as the 
churn drill is best adapted for sinking deep wells, as it is less likely 
to be turned aside by a bowlder or hard stratum than are the light 
hydraulic drills that are frequently used. 

It is not likely that much ground water can be developed for irri- 
gation. The cost of pumping water more than 50 feet prohibits its 



58 GROUND WATER IN BOXELDER AND TOOELE COUNTIES, UTAH. 

use for ordinary crops. It is probable, however, that where successful 
wells for domestic use are obtained the supplies will be adequate for 
watering gardens and small orchards and even this amount of irri- 
gation will add materially to the comfort and welfare of the residents 
on dry farms. 

QUALITY OF WATER. 

The two samples of water that were tested from Hansel Valley rep- 
resent supplies carrying moderate amounts of mineral matter. The 
waters could probably be used for irrigation without trouble from 
accumulation of alkali, and they are potable. They are somewhat 
high in scaling constituents, but could be improved by treatment with 
lime and soda ash. 

Assays of water from Hansel Valley, Utah. 
[Parts per million.] 















h'n^ 




<s> 


.4, 


<D 




No. 


Owner. 


Location. 


Source. 


1 
o 


1 

03 

5 




AM 

3 3 


.a 

So 

o 




.2 


1 
a? 

.9 










© 


& 


"li 


'^ m 


^ 

s 


go 


q 


o 

3 










1^ 


P 


O fl 


02-2 


o 


w 


CQ 


o 


141 


Mr. Dime a.... 


Sec. 27, T. 14 N., 


Spring 






c210 


c70 


o-.o 


225 


30 


no 






R.7W. 




















142 


Wm. Greaves & 


Sec. 14, T. 13 N., 
R.7 W 


Drilled well. 


405 


225 


96 


58 


8.0 


180 


27 


146 








Esti- 


Esti- 




















Total 


mated 


mated 


Proba- 
bility of 
corrosion. 


Quality 


Quality 


Alkali 
coeffi- 
cient. 


Quality 






No. 


Hard- 


dis- 


scale- 


foam- 


for 


for 


for 


Mineral 


Chemical 


ness. 


solved 
solids. 


forming 
ingre- 


ing 
ingre- 


boiler 
use. 


domestic 
use. 


irriga- 
tion. 


content. 


character. 








dients. 


dients. 
































In. 








141 


225 


C450 


250 


190 


' (?) 


Poor . . 


Good.... 


18.5 


Good. . 


Moderate 


Ca— COo 


142 


C275 


543 


300 


155 


Poor.. 


Good.... 


14.0 


Fair... 


Higb.... 


Ca-COa 



a Field assay. b Analyzed by Jas. R. Bailey, Austin, Tex. c Calculated. 



CURLEW VALLEY. 



TOPOG»RAPHY. 

Curley Valley lies north of Great Salt Lake and is bounded by the 
Hansel Mountains and Promontory Range on the east and by the 
Black Pine Mountains, the Raft River Mountains, and the Kelton 
escarpment on the west. It comprises about 725 square miles of 
hills and lowland and extends about 15 miles north of the Utah- 
Idaho State line. (See PI. I, in pocket.) The Promontory Range, 
which forms most of the eastern boundary of Curlew Valley, extends 
from the pass about 5 miles southeast of Snowville northward beyond 
the limits of this valley. Throughout this distance it maintains a 



CURLEW VALLEY. 59 

general height of nearly 8,000 feet, and the highest peaks reach still 
greater altitudes. The Hansel Mountains, which form the eastern 
boundary south of Snowville, culminate in a high peak near the pass 
and gradually become lower toward the south. Their west slope 
descends in a series of rock terraces overlooking the valley. The 
western boundary, unlike the eastern, is not a continuous wall. 
The Black Pine and Raft River mountains are both lofty ranges, the 
former rising to an altitude of 9,000 feet and the latter to about 8,000 
feet, but between these ranges is a broad open pass, and south of the 
Raft River Mountains the divide follows a line of low hills and escarp- 
ments. The northern boundary is formed by a range of hills to 
which no names have been applied. The Showell Hills project south- 
ward as a spur of this range and separate the northern part of the 
valley into two arms. The southern part of the valley is an open 
plain which a few miles north of Kelton and Monument is interrupted 
by a series of hills that extend from the Hansel Mountains nearly to 
the Kelton escarpment. These hills are more or less isolated from 
each other, and the flood waters drain to Great Salt Lake through the 
low areas between them. 

GEOLOGY. 

The geology of the Hansel and Promontory ranges has already been 
described (p. 56) , and the Raft River Mountains and Kelton escarpment 
are treated in comiection with Park Valley (pp. 64-65). The Black 
Pine Mountains are composed mainly of white quartzite and mica- 
ceous schists of probable early Paleozoic age, but younger Paleozoic 
rocks may occur in places surroundmg the main mountain mass. 
The Showell Hills are composed of grayish limestone and quartzite, 
which in most places are concealed by the Lake Bonneville sediments. 
So far as could be determined, the limestone and quartzite beds have 
a slightly northward inclination. The isolated hills in the south part 
of the valley were not visited, but are reported to contain limestone 
overlain by a bed of lava. Indurated strata are also exposed in the 
valley fill east of the Raft River Mountains, and lava is found in 
several places at the surface or only a few feet below it. The geologists 
of the Survey of the Fortieth Parallel report the lava to be well 
developed in the area south of the isolated hills. ^ 

The unconsolidated sediments of this area are mostly lake deposits, 
the waters of Lake Bonneville having occupied nearly all of the val- 
ley. In the vicinity of Great Salt Lake the shore lines are high on 
the mountain sides, but the valley floor rises toward the north to 
such an extent that the Bonneville shore line crosses the western arm 
a few miles above the State line. (See fig. 2, p. 13.) The thickness 
of the unconsolidated sediments in this vaUey has not been determined. 

1 Hague, Arnold, Rept. U. S. Geol. Expl., 40tli Tar., vol. 2, 1877, p. 425, 



60 GEOUND WATER IN BOXELDER AND TOOELE COUNTIES, UTAH. 

The artesian wells at Kelton are said to end in unconsolidated material 
at a depth of about 500 feet, and according to an unverified report a 
well 1,600 feet deep was once drilled at this station without reaching 
bedrock. 

PRECIPITATION. 

Rainfall gages have been maintained at Kelton and Snowville for 
a number of years. The records for these stations, given on page 18, 
show that the precipitation is heavier in the northern part of the 
valley than in the southern part, the annual average being 11.50 
inches at Snowville and only 6.37 inches at Kelton. If only those 
years are considered for which complete records were kept at both 
stations the averages are respectively 11.56 inches and 6.59 inches. 
This difference in precipitation between the north and south parts 
of the valley is due without doubt to the high mountains which sur- 
round the north end of the valley. The average for July is the same 
at both stations but for the other months of the year it is from 0.4 
inch to 2.2 inches higher at Snowville than at Kelton. (See ^g, 
6, p. 21.) 

DEVELOPMENT. 

The Central Pacific Railroad was completed in 1869, but there 
was little industrial development until a later date. The farming 
industry was for a long time confined to the eastern arm, where 
water for irrigation was available. In recent years attempts have 
been made to raise crops without irrigation. On the sage-brush 
land near the north end of the valley dry farming has had promising 
results, but on the shadscale flat west of Showell it has been unsuc- 
cessful, the failures being due in part to improper cultivation and in 
in part to insufficient rainfall. 

VEGETATION. 

The banded arrangement of the vegetation commonly found in 
most of the valleys of the Great Basin is not present over a large 
portion of Curlew Valley. The north end of the valley is covered 
with a dense growth of sage, but most of the area south of the Utah- 
Idaho State line is covered with intermittent traces of shadscale 
and sage. Near the lake greasewood and rabbit brush prevail. 

STREAMS AND SPRINGS. 

Deep Creek, the only permanent stream in this valley, has its 
source in the mountains surroundiag the eastern arm and flows 
southward past Holbrook, Stone, and Snowville, to the ranches at 
Showell, where the last of its waters percolate into the soil or are 
evaporated from the surface. In its upper course this stream car- 



CUKLEW VALLEY. 61 

ries but little water except during floods, but in sees. 12 and 13, 
T. 15 S., R. 32 E. Boise meridian, it receiyes the water of a number 
of springs whose combined flow, according to a report of the Pratt 
Irrigation Co., is about 40 second-feet. 

The Pratt Irrigation Co. has constructed a canal to divert the 
entire flow of these springs to land west of Stone, Idaho, where 
about 6,000 acres are to be irrigated, and has built a reservoir in 
which to store flood waters and the winter flow of the springs, which 
is to supply the farms at Snowville and Showell. In 1911 practi- 
cally no water was delivered to the land west of Stone because of 
the unstable condition of the ditches, and no crops were raised by 
irrigation in that tract. The Utah-Idaho Land & Water Co. has con- 
structed a reservoir in sec. 9, T. 14 N., R. 8 W., from which several 
hundred acres north and west of Showell are to be irrigated. Much 
difficulty was experienced in 1911 on account of leakage. If this 
project proves successful another reservoir is to be built farther 
downstream. 

A number of springs issue along the foot of the Promontory range 
between sec. 5, T. 14 N., R. 7 W. Salt Lake meridian, and sec. 6, 
T. 16 S., R. 33 E. Boise meridian, which yield sufficient water to 
irrigate small fields. Another series of springs is found along the 
foot of Black Pine Mountains between sec. 19, T. 16 S., R. 30 E. 
Boise meridian, and the north margin of that township. Isolated 
springs are also found in several other localities. (See PL I, in pocket.) 

WELLS. 

Artesian wells, reported to be 500 feet deep, were obtained at 
Kelton a number of years ago and are still flowing. The water which 
they yield is unfit for irrigation, especially on the alkali soil at that 
place (see assay, p. 64). Three wells in the NE. I sec. 25, T. 16 S., 
R. 32 E. Boise meridian, were sunk in ground occupied by seepage 
springs and obtained small flows at a depth of 40 feet. In many of 
the nonflowing wells the water rose several feet above the level where 
it was first encountered, and in Bishop Roe's well it rose about 80 
feet above the water-bearing stratum. 

In the eastern arm, north and east of Snowville, a number of non- 
flowing weUs have been obtained. The water was found at various 
depths but in general is deepest near the north end and is always 
deeper on the slopes bordering the Showell HiJIs than on the slopes 
along the Promontory Range. The domestic supply for Snowville 
was formerly obtained from wells but is now piped from a spring due 
east of town. The wells yield water of poor quality and have been 
abandoned. The well in sec. 5, T. 15 S., R. 30 E., which struck 
water at 75 feet, is the only successful weU so far obtained in the 
western arm. A well is reported to have been drilled in the SE. J 



62 GROUND WATER IN BOXELDER AND TOOELE COUNTIES^ UTAH. 

sec. 1, T. 16 S., R. 30 E., which obtained water at 390 feet that rose 
to a level 240 feet below >the surface, but the well was not cased and 
was consequently ruined by caving. 

A well dug on the Showell ranch to a depth of 60 feet obtained 
water that rose to the 50-foot level, but another well 90 feet deep 
and less than a quarter of a mile away stopped in lava without 
obtaining water. A weU was dug by J. H. Meekum at Cedar Store, 
in sec. 12, T. 14 N., R. 12 W., to a depth of 85 feet, where water was 
obtained. The Baker well in sec. 8, T. 12 N., R. 8 W., which is 
reported to have been dug to a depth of 92 feet and to have passed 
through 52 feet of lava, obtained a good supply of water. (See 
PI. I, in pocket.) 

Many of the failures in sinking for ground water in this valley 
have been due to the half-hearted attempts that were made. At 
probably no place in the valley is it impossible to obtain water, 
except in the areas close to the mountains or near outcropping 
ledges of rock. Even in localities where lava has been encountered 
water can perhaps be found either in cracks in the lava itself or in 
porous beds beneath it. More success could be had in driUing by 
Using heavier machinery equipped for passing to considerable depths 
through aU kinds of material. The type commonly known as the 
churn driU is well adapted for use in this vaUey. 

The base of the slopes east of the Black Pine and Raft River 
Mountains are promising localities for future development. Water 
of good quality will probably be obtained in those localities and it is 
not unlikely that a sufficient quantity for considerable irrigation can 
be recovered. Water will probably be found (at greater depth) in 
the broad area between Snowville and Cedar Store and also south 
of the isolated hills, but it may be of inferior quality. 

QUALITY OF WATER. 

The ground water in this vaUey is somewhat high in its content of 
chlorine, the assays showing amounts ranging from 110 to 910 parts 
per million. Bicarbonates and hardening constituents are not 
excessive and only one sample showed a high content of sulphate. 
The water from Pilot Spring and that from the artesian weUs at 
Kelton each had 40 parts and that at Snowville 10 parts per miUion 
of normal carbonates. The following table gives the results of 8 
assays of water. Three of the waters are fair for boiler use and the 
same number for domestic use. Only one sample is classified as 
good for irrigation, but it is thought that several of the others may 
be applied to land that has good underdrainage. 



CUKLEW VALLEY. 



63 



3 

o 



Chem- 
ical 

charac- 
ter. 


c 
1 

ci 


C 
1 

1 


do o 
1 1 1 

C3 C3 C 


€6 c 

1 1 1 

a a c 




'^8 


Moderate.. 

High 

Very high. 
High 

do.... 

do 

do 

do 


Quali- 
ty for 
irriga- 
tion. 


G ood . 

Poor . 
...do.. 
...do.. 

...do.. 
...do.. 
...do.. 

...do.. 


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Quali- 
ty for 

do- 
mestic 

use. 


Fair.. 
...do.. 
Poor. 
Fair.. 

...do.. 
Poor. 
Fair.. 

Poor. 


Quality 
for ' 
boiler 
use. 


^ S -U '^ S -^ '^ -ti 

<:3 '^ c3 <^ 'Oc303 c3 

pq : Ph PH ; Ph pq f^ 


Prob- 
abili- 
ty of 
cor- 
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720 

1,000 

300 

650 

540 
470 
720 

160 


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500 
1,040 
2,440 
1,000 

930 

1,700 
1,500 

1,500 


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Drilled well . 

do 

Dug well 

Drilled well . 


1 




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Snowville water- 
works. 
Richard Allen.... 

Lorenzo Hurd 

A. P. Peterson... 


George Showell... 
Stone & Paine. . . 


•9lduics JO -osi 


O 


s 


C>< CO T" 


>o 


s s 


1 



64 GROUND WATER IN BOXELDER AND TOOELE COUNTIES, UTAH. 
IRRIGATION WITH GROUND WATER. 

So far as can be determined from the present ground-water devel- 
opment, it will not be advisable to attempt extensive irrigation over 
most of this valley. It may be found feasible to irrigate with well 
water a strip bordering the Promontory Range in the eastern arm 
in the area where the water table lies less than 50 feet below the 
surface. Future development may also prove that the slopes east of 
the Black Pine Mountains contain sufficient water for irrigation, but 
the supply can be determined only by drilling. Water can be lifted 
a greater distance for irrigating orchards and gardens than for most 
field crops. It will probably be possible, therefore, to employ pumps 
over a large part of the eastern arm in the intensive cultivation of 
small tracts that will be remunerative and will make life on the dry 
farms more pleasant. 

PARK VALLEY. 
TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY. 

Park Valley is a broad, irregular-shaped plain about 30 miles long 
in an east-west direction and about 10 miles wide. It slopes south- 
ward from the foot of the Raft River Mountains at the rate of about 
150 feet to the mile. The low divide in the southwestern part of the 
valley separates the drainage into two basins; the water from the 
Raft River Mountains passes into Dove Creek but most of that from 
the Grouse Creek Mountains is discharged through Muddy Creek. 

The Raft River Mountains, which attain an elevation of nearly 
9,000 feet above sea level and more than 4,000 feet above the lowest 
part of the valley, form the north boundary of the valley. These 
mountains constitute a large anticline the southern flank of which 
dips about 25° S. and projects beneath the valley. The rocks exposed 
are mainly of early Paleozoic age. They consist chiefly of white 
quartzites and micaceous schists, but limestones are found along the 
foothills and in the pass leading to Junction Creek. 

The Grouse Creek Mountains, which limit the valley on the west, 
contain strata that are similar to those exposed in the Raft River 
Mountains but that dip toward the west and form a steep scarp slope 
on the east. Granite forms the core of the southern part of the 
range,^ where it outcrops over an area 10 to 12 miles long and 6 to 8 
miles wide. At the south end the granite is covered by beds of lime- 
stone which were referred by Hague to the ''Lower Coal Measures." 
The western slope of the range is covered high up on the flank by 
heavy beds of fine, white pumiceous sands, loose sandstone, and fine 
conglomerates which have been referred to the Pliocene. 

1 Hague, Arnold, Kept. U. S. Geol. Expl. 40th Par., vol. 2, 1877, p. 428. 



PARK VALLEY. 65 

The region lying between Park Valley and Great Salt Lake Desert 
contains a group of irregular hills which at but few points rise above 
the level of the Bonneville shore line. They are composed in large 
part of gray limestones intruded by lava and partly concealed by 
lava and lake sediments. Southeast of these hills, along the west 
side of the lake, the Terrace Mountains attain an elevation of nearly 
7,000 feet above the sea, or about 2,700 feet above the present lake 
level. They are composed chiefly of limestones which have a gentle 
northwest dip. 

The eastern margin of the valley is formed by an abrupt break in 
the topography, known as the Kelton escarpment, which probably 
marks the position of an ancient fault. This eastward-facing scarp 
is capped by a thick bed of lava that appears to extend westward 
beneath the Tertiary and Quaternary sediments. 

Park Valley is underlain by Tertiary and Quaternary beds. When 
Lake Bonneville stood at its highest level its waters covered only a 
part of the valley (fig. 2, p. 13), and the Quaternary beds are therefore 
partly stream deposits and partly lake deposits. Above the shore 
line the beds consist largely of coarse stream-deposited gravel and 
sand, but below the shore line, along Birch and Dove creeks, they 
include typical fine-grained lake sediments. The unconsohdated 
material that underHes the valley is probably thin in most places. 
The only two deep wells that have been sunk penetrated rock. All 
of the other wells in the vaUey are shallow and end in the Quaternary 
beds. Lying below this thin coveriag of Quaternary deposits and in 
few places appearing at the surface is a series of conglomerates, shale, 
and soft limestone of probable Tertiary age. A bed of hard yellow 
conglomerate, 200 feet thick, is exposed on the west bank of Indian 
Creek, south of the wagon road leading between Showell and Park 
Valley, and rocks of similar character outcrop on the hiQ in the 
NW. i sec. 25, T. 13 N., R. 13 W. Thick beds of bluish and yeUowish 
clays are exposed on Indian Creek a few miles above the wagon road. 
Fine-grained yeUow Hmestone forms the large hill southwest of 
Rosette. This limestone was encountered in the weU of James 
Hirsche in sec. 2, T. 12 N., R. 14 W., and in the well in the SE. J sec. 
8, T. 12 N., R. 13 W. It is also exposed in a few places along the 
streams flowing south from the Raft River Mountains. 

VEGETATION. 

Sage brush from 2 to 5 feet in height covers a large area in the 
northeastern part of the valley, but stunted brown shadscale is the 
predominant plant over the rest of the region. Greasewood, except 
for a very few scattered tracts along Bu'ch Creek, is found only as 
isolated plants. The area between Rosette and Indian Farm con- 
tains a large number of scattered juniper trees and the mountains 



66 GKOUND WATER IN BOXELDER AKD TOOELE COUNTIES^ UTAH. 

to the north and west are well timbered with pine and cedar. Kain- 
fall observations have not been made, but the arrangement of the 
vegetation indicates that the northeastern part of the valley receives 
a more copious rainfall than other parts of the valley. 

STREAMS. 

Park Valley receives the drainage from the mountains on the west 
and north. The two largest streams are Birch and Dove creeks. 
They flow continuously in their upper courses, but their waters sink 
into the loose soil soon after they enter the valley proper. Bii'ch 
Creek rises in the Grouse Creek Mountains and flows southeastward 
across the southwestern part of the valley. Dove Creek rises in the 
pass that leads to Junction Creek and also flows southeastward. 
Five small but important streams rise in the Raft River Mountains 
and furnish most of the irrigation supply. Named in order from 
west to east they are Dry, Pine, Rock, Fisher, and Marble creeks. 

No permanent streams flow out of the valley, but the flood waters 
discharge through the channels of Birch and Dove creeks into the 
desert and lake. These streams flow southeastward to a point near 
the low hills that form the southern boundary of the valley, where 
they take an almost due south course through gaps in the hill region. 

SPRINGS. 

Springs of the seepage type are found in the northeastern part of 
the vaUey on the land over which the streams from the Raft River 
Mountains flow. They are most abundant in the vicinity of the Park 
VaUey stores and Rosette, where they have been an important factor 
in the development of the valley. The bed of Bu-ch Creek from the 
vicinity of Herrington's ranch to the south side of sec. 22, T. 11 N., 
R. 15 W., is low and swampy (PI. I) and contains numerous small 
springs. The discharge of the seepage springs throughout the valley 
varies notably with the season, their yield being greatest in summer 
and least in winter. This fluctuation shows that the ground water 
corresponds to the seasonal variation in precipitation. 

Warm Spring, situated in sec. 20, T. 12 N., R. 15 W., appears to be 
caused by some geologic structure, its flow, which amounts to about 
2 second-feet, being practically constant throughout the year. 

FLOWING WELLS. 

Two wells in this valley yield water by artesian pressure. The 
James Hirsche well, in sec. 2, T. 12 N., R. 14 W., was drilled 205 feet 
through the Tertiary limestone and is reported to have ended in 
gravel, where the flow was obtained. At present it yields only about 
2 gallons a minute, but the driller reports that when it was com- 



PARK VALLEY. 67 

pleted the water rose about IS inches above the outlet. The Rose- 
vere well is located in the valley of Dove Creek, on sec. 18, T. 12 N., 
R. 14 W. It was drilled a number of years ago and very little could 
be learned in regard to its depth and yield, but it is reported to end in 
unconsolidated material at a depth of about 50 feet. The water rises 
to a level 2 feet below the surface and is brought to the surface by 
means of a trench leading to lower ground. 

Flows could possibly be obtained from the unconsolidated Quater- 
nary sediments in certain small areas, as in the shallow water tracts 
along Birch and Dove creeks, but over most of the region the water 
from these sediments will not rise to the surface. Even where the 
water table is near the surface flows can not generally be obtained, 
because the sediments are too thin and too porous to allow an accumu- 
lation of water under pressure. 

The conditions controlling the water in the Tertiary strata have not 
been thoroughly tested. It is possible that beds of gravel or some 
other porous material are present beneath the compact limestone 
which seems to underlie most of the valley and that these beds con- 
tain water that would rise to the surface or to a level from which it 
could be profitably pumped. The actual conditions can be deter- 
mined only by sinking a deep test weU. The cost and uncertainty of 
such a test would be so great that it could not wisely be made by any 
one inhabitant of the vaUey, but in view of the remote possibility of 
obtaining supplies from this source it might not be inadvisable for 
the community as a whole to make the test. Such a well to have the 
best chance of success should be located in the lower part of the vaUey, 
probably near the south line of T. 12 N. 

NONFLOWING WELLS. 

The Quaternary deposits in the northeastern part of the valley are 
saturated with water to a level near the surface, and no difficulty has 
been experienced by the farmers in this part of the valley in obtaining 
ground-water supplies. Differing from most debris-filled valleys, the 
water table is found nearest the surface at the foot of the mountains 
and deepest in the lowest part of the vaUey, the depth to water rang- 
ing from 8 to 56 feet in the wells that have been sunk. 

Only a few successful wells have been obtained west of the Rosevere 
ranch, which is situated in sec. 18, T. 12 N., R. 14 W. Two wells have 
b{^en dug near the channel of Bircli Creek, at the Hyland ranch, 
in sec. 16, T. 11 N., R. 15 W. The indurated strata come near the 
surface at the west side of T. 11 N., R. 15 W., and seem to form an 
underground dam which lias impounded the water and caused it to 
overflow in the channel of Birch Creek. Good wells can probably be 
obtained over a small area lying west of that locality along the base of 
the alluvial slopes. 



68 GKOUND WATER IK BOXELDER AND TOOELE COUNTIES, UTAH. 

The water level of the wells of Park Valley undergoes a seasonal 
fluctuation corresponding to the fluctuation in the flow of the springs, 
the level being highest in summer and lowest in winter. 

QUALITY OF WATER. 

The ground waters in Park Valley are good for domestic use. In 
the samples tested chlorides ranged from 60 to 355 parts per million, 
total hardness from 90 to 215 parts, bicarbonates from 45 to 385 
parts, and sulphates from less than 30 to 110 parts. The water from 
Hirsche's flowing well contains 75 parts per million of normal car- 
bonates, from which the other waters were free. The waters were 
generally bad for boiler use and are classified as poor for irrigation. 
It is believed that the waters may be used for irrigation, as the ground 
is porous and has free drainage, but great care would have to be exer- 
cised to prevent undue accumulation of alkali. 



PARK VALLEY. 



69 



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^0 GROUM WATM IN BOXELBER ANI) TOOELE COUNTIES, tJl?Att. 

IRRIGATION. 

About 6,000 acres of land in Park Valley are irrigated with surface 
water, about 5,700 acres being supplied by the streams issuing from 
the Raft River Mountains, in the northeastern part of the valley. 
Birch Creek supplies water for about 150 acres on the Warren, Herring- 
ton, and Hyland ranches, and Dove Creek and Warm Springs together 
supply water for about 150 acres on the Rosevere and Clark ranches. 

Up to the present time irrigation with ground water has not passed 
the experimental stage. Two gardens were being irrigated with 
underground water in 1911. A pumping plant, consisting of a 2- 
horsepower gasoline engine and suction pump, has been installed by 
Charles W. Goodliffe at the Park Valley store. The well is about 10 
feet in diameter and 17 feet deep, the water standing at a level 11.4 
feet below the surface. Gasoline costs 22 cents a gallon at Kelton, 
13 miles away, and the rated consumption is 1 gallon an hour per 
horsepower, but the actual cost of operation, including fuel and oil, 
was estimated by the owner at 2 J cents an hour. The yield, measured 
half an hour after pumping was begun, was 27 gallons a minute. 
The water level was lowered to 14 feet at the end of three hours' 
pumping, the yield remaining practically the same. The cost of 
water at this rate of pumping and estimated expense of operating is 
$5.22 an acre-foot. 

The other pumping plant belongs to Charles Chadwick and is situ- 
ated in sec. 4, T. 12 N., R. 13 W. It consists of a 2-horsepower gaso- 
line engine and a suction pump. The well is 3 feet in diameter and 
32 feet deep and has a water level 11.7 feet below the surface. The 
cost of operation is practically the same as at the Goodliffe plant. 
A yield of 31 gallons a minute was maintained during a brief test and 
the cost of fuel was estimated as $4.37 an acre-foot of water. This 
cost can be reduced in plants of larger capacity. At neither of these 
plants was the engine running under full load. 

Much of the water that sinks into the surface deposits near the 
mountains travels slowly toward the lower parts of the valley through 
the loose material lying on top of the Tertiary limestone, but a part 
probably follows down the top of the Paleozoic strata into gravel beds. 

Wells of large diameter sunk to the bottom of the unconsolidated 
sediments or at least to considerable depths below the water level 
will generally yield enough water for the irrigation of a few acres. 
If larger supplies are desired several wells should be sunk at equal 
distances apart, preferably along an east- west line, and these wells 
should be connected by tunnels in order that water from all of them 
can be drawn by means of a single centrifugal pump. A compara- 
tively large quantity of ground water of considerable economic 
importance can no doubt be obtained if the wells are widely dis- 
tributed, but there is no warrant for believing that the supply is 



Gtiotj^fi CREEK Valley and pilot Mountain" ar^a. 71 

sufficient to irrigate all or even any large portion of the total arable 
land, as is represented by some persons. Pumping plants could 
probably be employed advantageously on land now irrigated with 
stream water to provide supplies during the later part of the grow- 
ing season, when the flow of the streams diminishes. The most 
profitable use on other lands will be in enabling the farmers to sup- 
plement dry-farm crops by some that require water to bring them 
to maturity. Orchards, gardens, shade trees, and small fields of 
alfalfa may be grown, and life on the dry farms will thereby be made 
more pleasant and profitable. 

GROUSE CREEK VALLEY AND PILOT MOUNTAIN AREA. 
TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY. 

Grouse Creek valley is a relatively narrow tract lying between the 
Grouse Creek and Goose Creek mountains. It extends from a point 
near the Grouse Creek settlement in a general southerly direction to 
the vicinity of Lucin, a distance of about 25 miles. (PI. I, in pocket.) 
The Goose Creek Mountains, which are composed chiefly of Carbon- 
iferous limestone, rise abruptly to a height of nearly 2,000 feet above 
the valley, or about 7,000 feet above sea level. They have been 
subjected to faulting and to the intrusion of lavas, typically devel- 
oped near the Etna post office. The Grouse Creek Mountains have 
been described in connection v/ith Park Valley. (See p. 64.) Plio- 
cene deposits, consisting chiefly of clay, sand, and volcanic ash, occur 
on the west slope of these mountains and on the divide between 
Mahogany and Etna creeks. (See PL I.) 

When Lake Bonneville reached its highest level the valley was a 
long, narrow bay that terminated near the Grouse Creek settlement. 
The water of this bay deepened toward the south and stood about 
700 feet above the present site of Lucin. Twin Mounds and the 
large hiU about 6 miles north of Lucin were islands, but the other 
buttes in the valley were completely covered. During this submer- 
gence the valley was filled to a considerable depth by beds of sand, 
clay, and gravel, which have been exposed in sec. 33, T. 8 N., R. 
18 W., to a depth of 15 feet by postlacustrine erosion and have also 
been penetrated by a number of shallow wells. 

Lying between the Tecoma and Pilot mountains on the west and 
Great Salt Lake Desert on the east is a dry, parched plain, barren 
except for a scant growth of grayish shadscale. The Pilot and 
Tecoma mountains form a continuation of the Goose Creek Moun- 
tains to the north and rise to a height of 10,000 feet above sea level, 
or approximately a mile above the level of Great Salt Lake. They 
are composed of indurated strata ranging in age from pre-Cambrian 
to Carboniferous. The Bonneville shore line follows the sides of the 



12 GKOUND WATER 1-K BOXELDER AND TOOELE COUl^TlEg, UTAH. 

mountains, high above the plain. A number of low hiUs composed 
of indurated strata project through the unconsolidated sediments of 
the plain. The part of the plain adjacent to the Tecoma Mountains 
descends to the desert by easy stages, but that adjacent to the 
Pilot Mountains has a rather steep descent along which there are 
many springs. 

PRECIPITATION AND VEGETATION. 

Rainfall data have been collected at Lucin since January, 1909, 
and at Grouse Creek settlement since July, 1910. The average annual 
precipitation at Lucin for the three years is only 4.09 inches, but 
more rain falls at Grouse Creek than at Lucin, as is attested both 
by the records and by the vegetation. In figure 8 the rainfall at 
the two stations is compared for each month during which both have 
records. 




Figure 8. — Diagram showing relation of precipitation at Grouse Creek and Lucin, Utah. 

The extremely arid climate of the lower portions of western Box- 
elder County produces typical desert vegetation. The high moun- 
tains contain a relatively abundant supply of pine, cedar, and other 
mountain trees. The tops of the alluvial slopes support juniper 
trees and sage brush and the lower slopes vast tracts of shadscale. 
On the low tracts along Grouse Creek and on the margin of the desert 
luxuriant greasewood and rabbit brush prevail, but the desert is void 
of vegetation. 

STREAMS AND SPRINGS. 

The largest streams in this vicinity are Etna and Mahogany creeks, 
whose channels unite to form Grouse Creek. They are fed by moun- 
tain springs and ruii during the entire year, although their flow is 
small in July and August. Their normal flow is all appropriated on 
land lying in the upper part of the vaUey, Etna Creek supplying 
water for about 750 acres and Mahogany Creek for nearly 1,000 acres. 
The large floods caused by heavy rains or melting snow reach beyond 
Lucin, sometimes overflowing the bottom land to a depth of 4 feet or 
more, but at other times the water seldom reaches the junction of the 
two creeks. 



GROUSE CREEK VALLEY AND PILOT MOUNTAIN AREA. 73 

Only a few springs occur in the valley, but there are many in the 
Grouse Creek Mountains. A spring has been piped to the Grouse 
Creek settlement for domestic supply. Kimber's Spring, in sec. 30, 
T. 10 N., R. 18 W., and Kabbit Spring, in sec. 14, T. 8 N., R. 18 W., 
are used to irrigate a few acres of land. The domestic and locomo- 
tive supply for Lucin is piped from springs in the Tecoma Mountains. 
Numerous springs issue along the margin of Great Salt Lake Desert 
from the foot of the alluvial slope bordering Pilot Range. The land 
on which they are found is too low and alkaline to be used for agricul- 
ture, but it is well supplied with native grasses. 

WELLS. 

There are but few wells in the western part of Boxelder County. 
At Grouse Creek settlement wells are obtained in the unconsolidated 
sediments at depths of about 25 feet, and along Etna Creek water is 
found at about the same depth. Two wells in the E.J sec. 28, T. 10 N., 
R. 18 W., procured a very small supply of water at 30 and 38 feet, but 
it is believed that larger supplies could be obtained at a greater depth. 
A number of wells now abandoned liave in the past been sunk m the 
upper part of the valley. Among these are a well 50 feet deep dug 
32 years ago by J. W. and Charles Kunber m sec. 16, T. 10 N., R. 18 
W., a well 20 feet deep dug about the same time by a Mr. Duett in 
sec. 33, T.ll N., R. 18 W., and a well 25 feet deep dug 18 years ago by 
Sam Kimber in sec. 27, T. 11 N., R. 18 W. The well of Sam Kimber 
could not be pumped dry with a windmill. In 1911 the bottom of the 
channel of Grouse Creek was moist, and in a few places, notably in the 
vicinity of Twin Mounds, several miles below the junction of Etna and 
Mahogany creeks, water was standmg in potholes several months 
after the stream had ceased flowing. Where this condition exists the 
water table is probably not far below the surface. 

QUALITY OF WATER. 

The ground water of Grouse Creek valley is of relatively good 
c[uaUty for domestic use. Chlorides in the samples tested ranged from 
30 to 215 parts permdhon, hardness from 115 to 235 parts, and bicar- 
bonates from 145 to 675 parts. Only one sample contains more than 
30 parts of sulphate and only one gave a reaction for normal carbonate. 
The waters are generally fair for boiler use. Four of the waters have 
been classified as good and three as fair for irrigation. 



74 GROUND WATER IH BOXULDER AND TOOELE COUNTIES^ UTAH. 



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TOOELE AND EUSH VALLEYS. 75 

GROUND-WATER PROSPECTS. 

Owing to the lack of irrigation supplies a large part of western 
Boxelder County has remained without permanent inhabitants, and 
hence there has been little incentive to drill or dig for ground water, 
development having been practically limited to the areas along Etna 
and Mahogany creeks. Nevertheless, in other places good water 
could probably be obtained by moderately deep wells. 

The Pliocene strata which rest on the western slope of the Grouse 
Creek Mountains are in part porous, and they appear to extend 
beneath the unconsolidated lake beds that occupy the central part 
of Grouse Creek valley. Some of the water that falls as rain sinks 
into these porous strata and probably finds its way beneath the 
central part of the valley. There are, therefore, prospects for 
obtaining successful wells in the area that lies between the junction 
of Etna and Mahogany creeks and the Twin Mounds, and perhaps 
farther south. Omng to the fineness of the grain of these beds the 
yield of such wells will probably not be large but will be sufficient 
for farm supplies. 

The lofty Pilot Mountains receive a large amount of rain and 
snow, and much of the resulting water doubtless finds its way into 
the loose gravel at the upper limits of the alluvial slopes and travels 
slowly to the lower levels, where it is in part dehvered as springs and 
in part wasted by evaporation from the desert. This water could 
be recovered before it reaches the desert by moderately deep well 
sunk on the lower part of the alluvial slopes. Although there have 
been no developments it is not improbable that a strip of land one- 
half to three-fourths mile wide and 10 miles long, lying just above 
the line of springs, could be successfully irrigated by pumping from 
wells. In this strip the depth to water is probably less than 50 feet, 
and although it is not far above the desert it appears to be underlain 
by coarse material that would yield water. 

TOOELE AND RUSH VALLEYS. 
TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY. 

Tooele and Rush valleys, in eastern Tooele County, occupy the 
structural trough between the Oquirrh and Onaqui ranges. (See 
PI. II.) This trough opens at the north end to Great Salt Lake but 
is closed at the south end by the lofty Tin tic Mountains. Near 
Stockton it is crossed by a low divide that separates it into two 
drainage basins known as Tooele and Rush valleys. 

The Oquirrh Mountaias, which form the east side of the trough, 
are about 30 miles long and from 5 to 10 miles wide. In the north- 
em part they rise from 5,000 to 6,000 feet above the valley or nearly 



76 GEOUND WATER IN BOXELDEK AND TOOELE COUNTIES^ UTAH. 

10,000 feet above sea level, but in the southern part they are lower 
and are crossed by a broad pass leading into Cedar Valley. Accord- 
ing to the geologists ^ of the Fortieth Parallel Survey this range is in 
the form of a broad dome whose crest is near the town of Ophir, and 
this fact has been reaffirmed by Keith ^ in his description of the 
Bingham mining district. The warped surface has also been chopped 
up into a great number of blocks by extensive faulting. The strata 
exhibited in the mountains consist in the main of quartzites, sand- 
stone, and limestone, with intrusive bodies of monzonite and por- 
phyry and andesite. The stratified rocks are of Carboniferous^ age, 
but the age of the igneous rocks is not known except that they are 
later than Carboniferous. 

The Onaqui or Stansbury Mountains, which form the western 
boundary of the trough, extend in a north-south direction parallel to 
the Oquirrh Mountains.* They culminate in Bonneville Peak, which J 
is nearly 11,000 feet above sea level, or about 7,000 feet above the « 
level of Great Salt Lake. South of Clover Creek the range is only 
about 5,000 feet above the surrounding valleys and is crossed by two 
wagon roads — one leading west from Clover through Keynolds Pass 
and the other west from Vernon through Point Lookout Pass. The 
geologic structure of the north half of this range is rather complex. 
In a large way the strata form an anticline whose axis has a north- 
south trend. Parallel to this axis they are traversed by a fault 
having an upthrow on the west side of about 10,000 feet. On the 
west side of the northern part of the range the strata dip 25°-45° W., 
and on the east side of the range they dip to the east from only a few 
degrees to about 90°. South of Reynolds Pass the strata dip at a 
low angle in a direction somewhat south of west and strike diagonally 
across the range. 

South of Great Salt Lake and extending up the central part of 
Tooele Valley is a flat area that near the lake is low and marshy. On 
both sides of the central flat alluvial slopes reach upward to the 
Bonneville shore line, which is here about 5,200 feet above sea level, 
or 1,000 feet above Great Salt Lake. At the east end of the divide 
near Stockton the ancient lake formed a broad flat-topped beach 
ridge. 

Rush Valley occupies the trough between the divide and the 
Tin tic Mountains. It is about 30 miles long and from 10 to 20 miles 
wide. The flood waters collect at the north end of the valley in 
Rush Lake, which covers an area of about 2 square miles. At the 
south end of the valley a row of low hills composed of indurated 

1 Emmons, S. F., Rept. U. S. Geol. Expl. 40th Par., vol. 2, 1877, p. 464. 

2 Emmons, S. F., Keith, Arthur, and Boutwell, J. M., Economic geology of the Bingham mining dis- 
trict, Utah: Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Stirvey No. 38, 1905. 

3 Idem. p. 33. 

4 Emmons, S. F., Rept. U. S. Geol. Expl. 40th Par., vol. 2, 1877, p. 456. 




Base cojT 
Land Of T- 
*alignm( 



THE HOVRIS PETERS CO.. WASHIUCTON. D. C 



WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 333 PLATE ! 




Numbers at railroad 
stations indicate altitude 
of surface in feet above 
sea level 



.Llndo°ffic''e'piat;Tnd'Suroad MAP OF THE EASTERN PART OF TOOELE COUNTY, UTAH 

alignments SHOWING LOCATION OF \VELL,S AND SPRINGS 

By Everett Cm-pent er 

Scaie 3?5,<>oo 

iMiles 



TOOELE AND RUSH VALLEYS. 77 

strata project northward from the Tintic Mountains. About a mile 

south of Dunbar siding the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake 

Railroad excavated a cut through these hQls, where the follo^\dng 

section is revealed: 

Section near Dunbar siding. 

Feet. 

Disintegrated material, soil, and clay 10 

Coarse material 6 

Unconformity. 

Clay or shale 15 

Fine-grained siliceous sand 55 

Massive limestone 150 

The strata below the unconformity dip 37° W. 

Lake Bonneville occupied only the lower part of this valley, the 
shore line passing near Stockton, St. John, and Clover and extending 
within about 10 miles of Vernon. The lake sediments are therefore 
confined to the lowest levels, the greater part of the slopes consisting 
entirely of stream deposits. The unconsolidated sediments extend 
to a depth of more than 1,000 feet, as is shown by the deep well at 
Clover, which was sunk to that depth. 

STREAMS AND SPRINGS. 

The lofty mountains surrounding these valleys give rise to a number 
of streams that have been of great influence in the development of the 
region, the agricultural settlements of Tooele, GrantsvUle, Stockton, 
St. John, Clover, and Vernon owing their existence to them. (See 
PL II.) Pine and Dry creeks, which issue from the Oquirrh Moun- 
tains, furnish the domestic and irrigation supplies of Tooele. North 
and South Willow creeks, which head in the Onaqui Mountains, are 
led to the town of Grantsville, where their waters are used for irri- 
gation. Soldier and Ophir creeks rise in the southern part of the 
Oquirrh Mountains and discharge into Rush VaUey, Soldier Creek 
being used for domestic and irrigation supplies at Stockton, and Ophir 
Creek, which has a flow of about 3 second-feet, being used on the 
Johnson ranch below the mouth of the canyon. Clover Creek, 
which rises in Reynolds Pass in the Onaqui Mountains and has a 
discharge ranging from 14 second-feet in the spring to 3^ second-feet 
in the fall, supplies water to about 600 acres of land in Clover and 
St. John. Vernon Creek, which rises in the Tintic Moun tarns, is 
used in irrigating about 800 acres along its channel near the town of 
Vernon. In October, 1911, this stream had a flow of about 5 second- 
feet. 

Some of the springs in the mountains increase the flow of the streams 
and hence contribute to the irrigation supphes, but many of them do 
not reach any stream and are useful chiefly as watering places for 
prospectors and for the stock that grazes in the mountains. There are 



78 GROUND WATER IN BOXELDER AND TOOELE COUNTIES, UTAH. 

two springs in Tooele Valley near Erda, at the foot of the slopes border- 
ing the Oquirrh Mountains, and a number of springs are present in the 
south end of Kush Valley near Vernon and Lof green. All these valley 
springs furnish small irrigation supplies. 

FLOWING WELLS. 

Tooele Valley contains two distinct areas of flowing wells — one near 
Erda covering about 5 square miles, and the other at Grantsville cover- 
ing about 2 square miles (Ph II) . The Erda area lies at the foot of the 
alluvial slopes and extends about 2 J miles west into the flat. In this area 
numerous wells ranging in general from 2 to 4 inches in diameter and 
from 80 to 300 feet m depth have been drilled, flows being obtained at 
several horizons. The natural yield of these wells ranges from a very 
few gallons to 40 or 50 gallons a minute, the deeper beds yielding more 
than those near the surface. Better yields are also found near the base 
of the slopes than farther west. The artesian beds are apparently fed 
by the streams that issue from the mountains back of Tooele and con- 
tribute water to the underground reservoirs where they cross the 
gravelly alluvial slopes. In the Grantsville area there are also many 
2 to 4 iQch wells obtaining artesian water from sand and gravel beds 
between 90 and 434 feet below the surface. In general the deeper 
beds yield more freely than those near the surface. The wells in both 
areas have been allowed to flow continuously since their completion, 
with the result that their yield has greatly dimiaished. 

In Kush Valley five wells have been drilled in which the water rises 
practically to the surface. A well on the farm of Eli Morgan, in the 
NW. i sec. 9, T. 5 S., R. 5 W., flows about 1 gallon a minute. In the 
wells drilled on the farms of David Russell, in the SW. J sec. 9, T. 5 S., 
R. 5 W., and A. J. Stookey, in sec. 32, T. 5 S., R. 5 W., the water rose 
to the surface but would not flow. Two flowing wells near Vernon are 
about 140 feet deep and yield about 13 gallons a minute each. 

NONFLOWING WELLS. 

Very few wells have been put down in Tooele Valley outside of the 
artesian tracts, the inhabitants being largely congregated in settle- 
ments where they use water derived from the mountain streams. A few 
successful nonflowing wells have, however, been dug along the base of 
the slopes north of Erda. It would appear from the reports of settlers 
that it is impossible to obtain ground water in most of the valley. At 
Tooele a number of wells are reported to have been dug 200 feet deep 
and at the sink of Boxelder Creek one well is reported to have been 
sunk 200 to 300 feet, water not being found in either place. Success- 
ful wells, however, can doubtless be obtained in the central flat and on 
the lower part of the aUuvial slopes. 



SKULL VALLEY. 79 

In Rush Valley water has been found at shallow depths hi several 
localities. At Stockton the water table is practically at the surface 
near the margin of the lake but becomes deeper toward the mountains. 
At St. John and Clover many wells have been dug m which water was 
found at 25 to 30 feet. At Vernon water was found at 15 to 30 feet in 
a number of wells along the creek. Successful shallow wells have also 
been sunk m several other localities, as is shown on the map (PI. II). 

Four deep wells have been drilled in Rush Valley, each of which 
obtained water. In the Stookey well, in sec. 32, T. 5 S., R. 5 W., 
water which rose to the surface but did not flow was found at sev- 
eral horizons. This well is 1,004 feet deep and 3 inches in diameter, 
the casing extending down only 90 feet. In the Vernon test well 
water was found at several horizons, and that from one of them 
rose within a short distance of the surface. This well was also 3 
inches ui diameter and was between 500 and 600 feet deep. In 
the Delmontc weh, in the NW. i NE. I sec. 2, T. 9 S., R. 4 W., 1 i inches 
in diameter and 404 feet deep, the water rose to a level of 270 feet 
below the surface. The water is lifted by a 2-horsepow^er Fairbanks- 
Mor^e gasoline engine. The Toplif well, m the NE. i NE. J sec. 6, 
T. 8 S., R, 3 W., is 5^ niches in diameter and 654 feet deep. The 
log of this well is given on page 24. The water is warm but of good 
quality and is lifted by a steam-propelled 36-mch Cook pump, the 
water being used at the Toplif quarries. 

GROUND- WATER PROSPECTS. 

A part of the water falUng as rain or snow on the mountains 
surrounding TooeJe and Rush valleys is discharged through the 
canyons, sinks into the coarse beds of the alluvial slopes, and travels 
toward the central flats, where it accumulates so near the surface 
that it is wasted by evaporation. Wells that will furnish good water 
can be sunk in these water-bearing beds, but on the upper and 
middle parts of the slopes the water table probably lies rather deep; 
and trouble would be experienced in drillmg on account of the large 
bowlders hi the underlying material. If drillmg machinery that is 
capable of sinking a hole of relatively large diameter to considerable 
depth is used, there will be less likeliliood of having the hole de- 
flected or the drilling stoi)i)ed by bowlders than if it is done with 
light hydraulic rigs. 

SKULL VALLEY. 
TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY. 

Skull Valley lies west of the Onaqui or Stansbury I\[ountains and 
is a broad arm of the Salt Lake dei)ression. At its north end it is 
occupied by extensive marshes that are scarcely above the level of 
287°— wsp 333—13 G 



80 GKOUND WATER IN BOXELDER AND TOOELE COUNTIES^ UTAH. 

the lake. Farther south it rises gradually to an almost impercepti- 
ble divide opposite Point Lookout Pass, south of which the drainage 
is thrown westward into Great Salt Lake Desert. 

The Onaqui Mountains, which form the eastern boundary of this 
valley, are discussed in connection with the description of Tooele 
Valley (p. 76). The Cedar Mountains, V which lie west of the valley, 
rise about 2,000 feet above the valley floor and consist chiefly of 
Paleozoic strata that dip eastward at various angles. The Lakeside 
Mountains lie north of the Cedar Mountains and form a part of the 
northwest boundary of the valley. The Tintic Mountains extend 
westward across the south end of the basin and separate it from the 
Sevier Desert basin. 

The structural trough comprising this valley has been partly filled 
by stream, lake, and wind deposits. The stream deposits are con- 
fined mainly to the alluvial slopes. The slopes bordering the Onaqui 
Mountains are high and gravelly, but those bordering the Cedar 
Mountains are low and descend gradually to the lowest part of the 
vaUey. Lake Bonneville occupied practically all of the valley. At 
the north end this ancient lake was about 1,000 feet deep, but oi3po- 
site Point Lookout Pass the water was shallow, forming fancifully 
shaped beach ridges on the low divide. The wind deposits are con- 
fined to a small area along Barlow Creek. Loose sands have been 
blown from the desert and deposited on the alluvial slopes in this 
locality, producing a dune topography. 

The stream and lake deposits in this valley extend to an unknown 
depth. The deepest well is 350 feet deep and appears to end in 
Lake Bonneville sediments. A dry hole dug on the James ranch 
passed through about 100 feet of coarse gravel and bowlders, which 
were evidently stream deposits. 

PRECIPITATION. 

Data on precipitation have been taken at Government Creek 
(James ranch) for a period of about 12 years and at losepa since 
September, 1910. The average annual precipitation at Government 
Creek is 11.53 inches. The monthly data on precipitation at these 
two stations have been plotted in figure 9 for the period since the 
installation of the losepa station. This diagram shows that there is 
a very close relation between the rainfall in the north and south ends 
of this valley, the curves being in many parts almost coincident. 
The most rain falls in the first four months of the year and the least 
in the second four months. 

1 Emmons, S. F., Kept. U. S. Geol. Expl. 40tli Par., vol. 2, 1877, p. 462. 



SKULL VALLEY. 



81 



VEGETATION. 



The highest parts of the Onaqui Mountains contain a large amount 
of pine and cedar and are included in the Wasatch National Forest. 
The Cedar Mountains and the upper portions of the alluvial slopes 




April 



adjacent to the Onaqui and Cedar mountams support a scant growth 
of sage brush and juniper; the lower portions of the alluvial slopes 
produce stunted white sage, match brush, and shadscalc, and the 
central flat is covered by greasewood and swamp grasses. 



82 GROUND WATER IN BOXELDER AND TOOELE COUNTIES^ UTAH. 
STREAMS AND SPRINGS. 

The only permanent streams in Skull Valley are Barlow, Hickman, 
Antelope, and Lost creeks, which rise in the Onaqui Mountains 
north of Reynolds Pass and flow into the valley where their waters 
are used on the ranches located along their courses. (See PL II.) 
Barlow Creek flows to Condie's ranch, where it furnishes water for 
irrigating about 45 acres. Hickman Creek flows to the Goshuit 
Indian settlement, where its waters are all appropriated. Antelope 
Creek flows to Brown's ranch, where about 100 acres are irrigated 
with its waters. Lost Creek has been led to the Live Stock Co.'s 
ranch for irrigation, domestic use, and stock supply. At Orr's 
ranch, in sec. 6, T. 6 S., R. 8 W., a number of springs yield enough 
water to irrigate about 80 acres. At the Hatch ranch, in sec. 9, 
T. 6 S., R. 7 W., springs are also used for irrigation. At losepa set- 
tlement a number of springs, which occur at the base of the moun- 
tains, have been developed for irrigation, domestic use, and stock 
supply. Big, Burnt, and Muskrat springs, which lie along the wagon 
road leading north to losepa settlement, are so poor in quality that 
they can not be used for irrigation, especially on the alkali ground 
where they issue. 

Government Creek is a dry run in which the water flows only during 
floods. One of its tributaries that rises in the Tin tic Mountains, 
however, has a permanent supply which has been led to the James 
ranch, where it is used for irrigation, domestic purposes, and stock. 

GROUND WATER. 

Most of the ranches depend on surface water for domestic supply, 
and there has therefore been but little development of ground water 
in this valley. Water was found at 12 feet in the NE. J sec. 35, 
T. 5 S., R. 8 W. In the 350-foot well of T. S. Cochran, in sec. 18, 
T. 6 S., R. 7 W., water of inferior quality was found at 30 feet, but 
no other water-bearing stratum was encountered. In a well at 
losepa settlement, 55 feet deep, water was found that is too brackish 
to be used for culinary purposes . At the James ranch, on Government 
Creek, an excavation was carried to a depth of 100 feet through coarse 
gravel and bowlders, but no water was found. 

Although only a few weUs have been dug in this valley, it is not 
improbable that good water can be obtained from wells, especiafly on 
the lower slopes bordering the Onaqui Mountains. The luxurious 
timber on these mountains indicates a heavy rainfall. The surplus 
water flows from the canyons over the aUuvial slopes, where a part 
sinks into the loose gravelly material and finds its way beneath the 
valley. The water table probably lies deep beneath the surface in a 
large part of the vaUey and in the porous sand area along Barlow 



WATERING PLACES. 83 

Creek, the lower slopes north of Keynolds Pass offering the most 
favorable indications of furnishing ground water. The most prac- 
tical method of obtaining wells will be by using drilling machinery 
capable of sinking through gravel and bowlders to a considerable 
depth. 

WATERING PLACES ON ROUTES OF TRAVEL. 

The following information is given for the benefit of persons who 
are strangers to this region but who wish to make a journey to some 
part of it or who wish to pass through it on a transcontinental 
automobile tour. In connection with these directions Plates I and 
II should be consulted. It should be remembered that changes are 
made from time to time, and that watering places in use at one time 
may later fall into disuse. Before starting on a journey, therefore, 
the directions here given should be supplemented by information 
from local sources. 

BOXELDER COUNTY. 

RAILWAY STATIONS AND THEIR CONNECTIONS. 

On the map of this country (PL I, in pocket) stations are indicated 
at intervals of several miles along the railroads, but many of these 
stations are merely switch yards and water tanks with no inhabitants 
and no food or shelter, and some are merely switch yards to accommo- 
date passing trains. The stations in lower Bear and Malad River 
valleys are small towns containing hotel and other accommodations, 
but in the other valleys only Promontory, Promontory Point, Kelton, 
and Lucin contain inhabitants. 

The main line of the Southern Pacific Railroad crosses Great, 
Salt Lake and the northern part of Great Salt Lake Desert west of 
Promontory Point, leaving the State of Utah west of Lucin. A 
stage hue connects Lucin with Grouse Creek and it will be possible to 
obtain a conveyance at Lucin for points to the south. 

The old line of the Southern Pacific, formerly the Central Pacific 
Railroad, extends from Brigham to Lucin by way of Promontory 
and Kelton, but trains are operated only between Brigham and Kel- 
ton, the runs being made on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. 
Kelton is the supply station for Park Valley and the southern and 
western parts of CXirlew Valley. A stage runs between Kelton and 
Rosette. Promontory is the supply station for Hansel Valley and the 
lower part of Blue Spring Valley. 

The Oregon Short Line Railroad Co. operates two hues in lower 
Bear and Malad River valleys. The main line of this system follows 
the west flank of the Wasatch Mountains through Willard, Brigham, 
Honeyville, Deweyville, and CoUinston, entering Cache Valley through 



84 GROUND WATER IN BOXELDER AND TOOELE COUNTIES, UTAH. 

the Bear Eiver canyon in the Wasatch Mountains. A branch Hne 
goes from Brigham to Corinne, and thence north to Malad, Idaho, 
passing through Tremonton and GarUn and near the towns of Bear 
River City, Riverside, Fielding, Plymouth, and Portage. A stage 
Hne is operated between Tremonton and Showell by way of Blue 
Spring and Snowville. 

WAGON ROADS. 

Two main wagon roads connect Brigham with Kelton, one by way 
of Promontory and the other by way of Snowville. In dry weather 
they are equally good, but in wet weather the Snowville route is 
much the better. 

Brigham to Kelton via Promontory. — The road leading west from 
Brigham to Kelton follows closely the old line of the Southern Pacific 
Raihoad. It passes several watering places in Lower Bear River 
valley, the last before reaching Promontory being Blue Creek, where 
water has been piped to the railroad for locomotive supply. Near 
Promontory the road forks, the best-traveled route leading past 
Rozel and Cedar Spring, and the other leading directly to Cedar 
Spring. The road from Cedar Spring to Kelton passes Salt Wells, 
Monument, and Locomotive Springs. Water may be procured for 
camp use at each of the places mentioned, but that froin Salt WeUs 
and Locomotive Springs is undesirable for drinking. 

Brigham to Kelton via Snowville. — The wagon road from Brigham to 
Kelton by way of Snowville leaves the Southern Pacific Raihoad 
at Corinne and passes up the valley to Tremonton, where it turns 
west and leads across the Blue Spring Hill to Blue Spring. Thence 
it leads up Blue Spring Valley, across the Promontory Range to the 
head of Hansel Valley, past Dillies Spring to Snowville. The tele- 
phone line between Tremonton and Snowville will be a valuable 
guide to strangers in keeping the road. From Snowville the road 
leads almost due west to Showell, whence it takes a southwest course 
to Kelton. Water may be obtained at Tremonton, Blue Spring, 
Snowville, and Showell, and at a number of farmhouses in lower 
Bear River valley and Blue Spring Valley, but there are no watering 
places between Showell and Kelton. 

Kelton to Lucin. — Two wagon roads lead between Kelton and 
Lucin. One road follows the old railroad line and the other leads 
through the southern part of Park Valley. On the road following 
the railroad, water can be obtained at Terrace, where the railroad 
company maintains a supply piped from Rosebud Creek for locomo- 
tive use in emergencies when through trains are run over the old line. 
The other wagon road leads nearly due west from Kelton until it 
crosses Dove Creek, whence it takes a southwest course around the 
south end of the Grouse Creek Mountains. Water can be procured 
on this road at Dove and Muddy creeks. 



WATERING PLACES. 85 

Kelton to Parle Valley, Raft River valley, and Snowville. — The road 
from Kelton to Park Valley leads northwest over the Kelton escarp- 
ment. Water can be had at the springs in sec. 10,T. 12N.,R. 12 W., 
but as it is only 13 miles from Kelton to the Park Valley store the trip 
is usually made without taking water on the way. In going from 
Kelton to Raft River valley or points beyond, water can be obtained 
at the Rose ranch, sec. 8, T. 12 N., R. 11 W., and at Cedar Store, sec. 
12, T. 14 N., R. 12 W. The road from Kelton to Snowville passes 
no watering places until it reaches Showell, which is only a few miles 
from Snowville. 

Parle Valley to Grouse Creek and Junction Creele. — The road from 
Park Valley to Grouse Creek leads west through Rosette to Indian 
Farm, thence south to Warm Spring, thence west bo the head of 
North Birch Creek, and thence across the Grouse Creek Mountains, 
descending on the west side of the range along a branch of Mahogany 
Creek. Water can be obtained at Rosette, Indian Farm, Warm 
Spring, and Birch Creek. The road across the mountains is so steep 
and rough that it can not safely be traveled by an automobile or 
a loaded wagon. 

The road to South Junction Creek leaves the Grouse Creek road at 
Indian Farm and follows up Dove Creek to the top of the pass between 
the Raft River and Grouse Creek Mountains. Beyond the pass it 
descends as a rather rough trail to South Junction Creek. Water is 
plentiful along Dove Creek, but there is no water along the road 
between the pass and South Junction Creek. 

Snowville to east and west arms of Curlew Valley, Raft River valley, 
and Parle Valley. — A well-traveled wagon road traverses the east 
arm of (Mrlew Valley between Snowville and Holbrook. This part 
of Curlew Valley is well settled and water can be obtained from numer- 
ous farm wells and from Deep Creek. 

The best road to c,he west arm of Curlew Valley leads west through 
Showell, then northwest to the line of springs on the west side of 
T. 16 S., R. 30 E. No water is obtainable in this arm except along 
the slope bordering the Black Pine Mountains and at one spring in 
sec. 31, T. 14 S., R. 30 E. 

The trip from Snowville to Raft River is best made by way of 
Showell and Cedar Store. Water can be procured at Showell, Pilot 
Spring (in sec. 13, T. 14 N., R. 11 W.), and Cedar Store. Northwest 
of Cedar Store the road leads tlirough Clear Creek settlement, where 
water can be obtained. 

There are two routes from Snowville to Park Valley, one leading 
due west from Showell and the other southwest from that place. The 
roads reunite at the Kelton escarpment and lead west across Indian 
Creek to Park Valley Store. The road leading west from Showell goes 
to Pilot Spring, which is a favorite camping place. At the spring 



86 GROUND WATER IN BOXELDER AND TOOELE COUNTIES, UTAH. 

the road turns toward tlie southwest. The other road, which leads 
nearly due southwestward from Showell, passes a spring about 10 
miles from Showell, but this spring is easily passed without being seen. 
It is, moreover, fit only for stock use. 

Lucin to Wendover and Ihapah. — A wagon road leads from Lucin 
to Ibapah, a distance of about 100 miles, by way of Wendover, a sta- 
tion on the Western Pacific Railway, at which accommodations and 
supplies can be obtained. This road runs east of the Tecoma and 
Pilot mountains, passing a series of springs which begin about 15 
miles south of Lucin and extend to Morrison's ranch, in sec. 36, T. 4 
N., R. 19 W. Water can be procured at some of these springs, at 
McKellar's ranch, in sec. 12, T. 3 S., R. 19 W., and at Hall's Spring, 
3 miles farther south. The road from McKellar's ranch to Wendover 
crosses the edge of the desert flat and follows the pipe line into Wend- 
over. From Wendover to Ibapah, a distance of about 55 miles, the 
road leads past Salt Spring and along Deep Creek. A stage runs three 
times a week from W^endover to Ibapah and Calleo. 

Lucin to Grouse CreeJc. — Grouse Creek may be reached from Lucin 
by the stage which travels three times a week between those places. 
The road follows up the valley and does not pass any watering places 
except near the settlement. 

TOOELE COUNTY. 

RAILWAY STATIONS AND THEIR CONNECTIONS. 

The San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad crosses the 
eastern part of Tooele County. It traverses Tooele and Rush val- 
leys, passing through Erda, Tooele, and Stockton and near St. John, 
Ajax, Vernon, and Lof green. Stage connections are made with St. 
John, Clover, and Vernon. Water can be obtained at each of these 
, places. 

The Western Pacific Railway passes around the south end of Great 
Salt Lake and crosses the north end of Skull Valley; thence it leads 
west across the Great Salt Lake Desert, entering Nevada near Wend- 
over. This railroad passes through no towns where accommodations 
can be obtained. The desert is uninhabited and is, in large part, an 
impassable waste. A station and water tank are maintained at 
Temple, about 15 miles north of losepa, but there are no stage con- 
nections between this station and the settlements in Skull Valley. 

WAGON ROADS. 

Skull Valley may be reached from Tooele or St. John. The road 
from St. John leads across the Onaqui Mountains, through Reynolds 
Pass, to Orr's ranch. Watering places are plentiful along the route. 



WATERING PLACES. 



87 



The north end of Skull Valle}^ is best reached from Tooele, over a 
road that leads through Grantsville, past Timpie Spring, at the north 
end of the Onaqui Mountains, and thence southward past Big, Burnt, 
and Muskrat springs, to losepa. Water can be obtained at each of 
the springs mentioned. 

A stage line goes from Vernon to the James ranch, Dugway, the 
Utah mine, Calleo, and Ibapah, but this route passes few watering 
places and most of its course is through an uninhabited region. 

Distances in miles between principal watering places on routes of travel in Boxelder 

County, Utah. 





i 
•t 


6 
G 

.g 

s 


% 
® 


o 

I 

PLH 


"a! 


1 


1 


1 


1 


d 
o 
to 

.s 

1 




o 


§ 


1 


> 
1 
m 

60 
54 


1 

67 
61 


o 
o 

o 

85 
79 


1 

86 
80 


1-4 

o 





6 
22 
35 
42 
46 
73 
120 
135 
12 
10 
15 
20 
20 
24 
28 
40 
52 
43 
40 
60 
67 
85 
86 
90 
160 


6 

16 
29 
34 
40 
67 
114 
130 
6 
8 
13 
18 
12 
14 
21 
36 
48 
37 
35 
54 
61 
79 
80 
84 
154 


23 
16 


8 
16 
23 
48 
75 
100 


35 
29 
8 

8 
15 
40 
70 
93 


42 
34 
16 
8 

13 
32 
62 
85 


46 
40 
23 
15 
13 

25 
55 
78 


73 
67 
48 
40 
32 
25 

30 
60 


120 
114 
75 
70 
62 
55 
30 

23 


135 
130 
100 
93 

85 
78 
60 
23 



20 

18 


28 
21 


40 
36 


52 

48 


40 
37 


160 


Corinne 


154 






Promontory 










































Salt Wells 


































32 


25 


17 


13J 




Terrace 




















160 
32 
31 
26 
21 
23 
20 
13 

12 
46 
49 






92 

48 


85 
55 


82 
73 


62 
74 


?,5 


Bear River City 


15 
10 
5 

10 


14 
17 
11 

7 
13 
10 


13 
25 
36 
36 


44 
43 
38 
33 
35 

i 

12 

13 
16 




148 














































Collinston 




























Tremonton 
















23 
23 


40 
40 


47 

47 


65 
65 


100 
100 


133 


















133 


















7 
21 
33 
33 
33 




Portage 




























Bond 
















13 

3 

18 
25 
43 
60 
64 
97 












Blue Spring 

Howell 


■"i3 


20 
16 
30 
37 












18 
21 

7 
25 
42 
46 
79 


25 
28 
7 

18 
35 
39 
72 


43 
46 
25 
18 

20 
24 
57 


60 
63 
42 
35 
20 

4 
37 


97 




19 
16 
23 








100 


Snowville 


32 

25 

17 

13i 

18 




92 

85 


79 


Showell . . . 










7? 


Cedar Store 










57 


Park Valley 

Rosette 






















37 






















33 














25 






































INDEX. 



A. 

Page. 

Alkali, limits of 34-37 

source of 34 

Artesian wells, conditions governing 27-29 

locations of 42, 61-62, 66-67, 78 

B. 

Bear River valley, geology of 38-39 

ground water of 42-43 

assays of 43-49 

irrigation in 41, 50 

surface water of 39-41 

topography of 37-38 

Bedrock, nature of 23-25, 27, 38 

Blue Spring valley, agriculture in 51-52 

ground water of 52-53 

assays of 53-54 

irrigation in 55 

surface water of 52 

topography and geology of 50-51 

Boxelder County, map of In pocket. 

map of 13 

map showing location of 8 

C. 

Climate of the region 16-21 

Curlew Valley, geology of 59-60 

ground water of 61-62 

assays of 62-63 

irrigation in 64 

surface water of 60-61 

topography of 58-59 

D. 

Dole, R. B., cited 31-32 

Dry farming, results of 21 

G. 

Geology of the region 9-16 

Great Salt Lake, fluctuations of 14-16 

fluctuations of, diagram showing 15 

water of, analyses of 41 

Grouse Creek valley, ground water of 73-75 

ground water of, assays of 74 

precipitation in , diagram showing 72 

surface water of 72-73 

topography and geology of 71-72 

Guffey & Galey well, log of 11 

n. 

Hansel Valley, geology of 56 

physiography of 55 

springs in 56, 57. 58 

wells in 57, 58 

Hilgard, E. W., cited 35 

I. 

Industrial development of the region 23 

Irrigation in Bear River Valley 41 

J. 
1, C. A. v., cited 34,35 



L. 



Lake Bonneville, extent of 12-14 

map showing 13 

La Rue, E. C, cited 15, 16 

M. 

Malad River valley, geology of 38, 39 

ground water of 42, 43 

assays of 43-49 

irrigation in 50 

surface water of 39-41 

topography of 37, 38 

P. 

Park Valley, ground water of 66-68 

ground water of, assays of 69 

irrigation in 70, 71 

surface water of 66 

topography and geology of 64 

Physiography of the region 7-9 

Pilot Mountain area, description of 71, ■• 

Pocatello Valley, agriculture in 51, 52 

ground water of 52, 53 

assays of 53, 54 

irrigation in 55 

surface water of 52 

topography and geology of 50, 51 

Precipitation in the region 17-21 

diagrams showing 20, 21 

variation of, diagram showing 19 

Pumping tests, results of 49 

R. 

Railroads in Boxelder County 83, 84 

in Tooele County 86 

Roads in Boxelder County 84-86 

n Tooele County 8G, 87 

Rush Valley, ground water of 78-79 

surface water of 77-78 

topography and geologj'- of 75-77 

S. 

Sediments, unconsolidated, nature of. . 25-26,38-39 

Skull Valley, ground water in 82-83 

precipitation in 80 

diagram showing 81 

surface water in 82 

topography and geology of 79 

Soil of the region 22 

Springs, hot, occurrence of 30 

hot, water of, analyses of 42 

mountain, occurrence of 29, 42 

valley, occurrence of 29-30 

Stabler, Herman, cited 36 

Stage lines in Boxelder County 83-84 

in Tooele County 86 

Strahom, A. T., cited 34-35 

Streams of the region 22-23 

89 



90 



INDEX. 



T. 

Page. 

Tooele County, map of eastern part of 76 

map of 13 

map showing location of 8 

Tooele Valley, ground water of 78-79 

surface water of 77-78 

topography and geology of 75-77 

U. 

Utah, map of 8 

V. 

Valley, typical, view and section of 28 

Vegetation of the region 21-22 



W. 

Page. 

Water for boiler use, suitability of 43-49 

for domestic use, requirements of 32-33 

for irrigation, requirements of 34-37 

ground, analyses of 31-32, 42, 43-49 

source and disposal of 26-27 

substances dissolved in 30, 32 

surface, analyses of 40 

Watering places in Boxclder County.. 83,84-86,87 

in Tooele County 86-87 

Wells, nonflowing, locations of 42-43 



O 



T>.IAP OF 

BOXEL-DER COUNTY, UTAH 

liOCATlOK OF WELLS AND SPRINGS 
By Everett Carpenter 



FlowiiiG wpH aiid flowJng-iveB area. 
(Gothic f^gure.<<7Z):->,iic.jt.rdefttht>fMva) 

Diyhole 
(Oolhicf(ffum(22A)auUcaie depth) 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

019 953 676 A 



